tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217281312024-03-05T06:30:12.136-08:00RopewalkA ropewalk is a narrow alley where ropesmiths used to braid long strands of hemp into rope. I'm also trying to braid strands that develop leaders.drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-88978165141092144792024-01-14T10:48:00.000-08:002024-01-14T10:48:09.622-08:00Trying to keep my account active<p> I think if I post something my Blogger account will stay active. Just trying that out. :-) </p>drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-29061753922885539552019-01-18T12:41:00.000-08:002019-01-18T12:41:05.441-08:00Backstage at QLast spring I had the opportunity to attend the <a href="http://qideas.org/" target="_blank">Q Conference</a> where I got the chance to share about the Tabor Masters of Ministry Entrepreneurship and Innovation degree. The conversation was recorded and you can view it here.<br />
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For more information check out the degree program here: <a href="http://www.tabor.edu/mei" target="_blank">Tabor MEI</a>drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-51251836967343546922018-10-29T09:43:00.000-07:002018-10-29T09:43:49.678-07:00Notes to my young self- Introduction<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I unlocked my office door and dropped my church keys on my desk. Starting my first youth ministry job had my head spinning with questions: </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What do I need to know starting out? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How can I best minister to the youth in my care? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where do I learn to handle all the pressures that immediately come to me? Balancing parents, church leadership, pastoral staff and the church secretary is already a struggle. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, looking back as a 30 year ministry veteran, what advice would I give to that guy standing in his new office? </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-57f92706-7fff-f647-6d20-9fee0a6c6be3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I began youth ministry in the early 1980’s at the “wise old” age of 19. Like most my age, I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do career-wise. I leaned toward an occupation as a Ranger working in a nearby National Park, but my pastor and youth pastor had a different plan for me. In between my freshman and sophomore years of college my church took me on as a summer intern. Like many interns I loved it and thought, “I can get paid to do this fun stuff?” This experience kindled an interest and passion for ministry that has carried me through to this day. </span></div>
<b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After a 34 year ministry journey, which includes a wide variety of ministry roles, I am now in my mid-50’s and invest in training and preparing people for entrepreneurial ministry as a faculty member at Tabor College. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLGyh0eJ_Lv-p4kWR_S_zsXf47B7lE7ZFsqdJyvcXXMG57JqDTRVpszqglItfgIrO1g5q6iDhICnPGL5sVl48WA4h6gkVv9mTb4-Edk9bzOtNHZuhq5-1kwh_g5Gpxkd8T15ZDxQ/s1600/17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLGyh0eJ_Lv-p4kWR_S_zsXf47B7lE7ZFsqdJyvcXXMG57JqDTRVpszqglItfgIrO1g5q6iDhICnPGL5sVl48WA4h6gkVv9mTb4-Edk9bzOtNHZuhq5-1kwh_g5Gpxkd8T15ZDxQ/s320/17.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b>
<b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Looking back I feel like I have learned a few things over the past years, and this post is the first in a blog series called, “Notes to my younger self.” In future posts I plan to share stories from my Youth Ministry past and offer insights I wished I would have known back then. Hopefully, by listening in on this conversation, it will also help you who read it today. </span></div>
<b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Before jumping into the series, first a bit about me. When I was starting 7th grade, my parents moved us to a new community. With the move came a new church which became a vocation-shaping place for me. I met pastor Bob Clayton and youth pastor Carman Ruggeri, who were to have a life-long impact on my call and vocation. During those years Bob and Carman began to invite me into the vocation of ministry. They modeled what the book </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Growing Young</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> identified in chapter 2 as “unlocking keychain leadership.” Bob and Carman continually called me into ministry leadership, even when I initially resisted. When I finally accepted their “summons,” they provided access to get involved right away, which led to the summer internship. </span></div>
<b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I graduated from Fresno Pacific, a Christian college, with a Christian Ministry degree. However, I did not feel adequately prepared to launch out and run my own youth group so I joined “Christian Service,” a two year peace-corps type program run by the Mennonite Brethren church for young adults working in a variety of ministries. For me, this was an excellent way to get youth ministry experience and learn under the watchful eye of Bruce Porter, a youth ministry veteran. When I completed the 2 year program, I felt better prepared to launch out and serve on my own. </span></div>
<b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I spent an additional two years as a youth pastor then transitioned to Seminary where I also worked part time in a church. During that time, ministry expanded to include worship leading and involvement with general church leadership. After graduating from Seminary, my wife and I moved to England to work with Youth for Christ. More on that experience in future posts. </span></div>
<b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Along the way I have had other great youth ministry mentors. Still, there were tough things I learned along the way that in hindsight I want to reflect on. The next blog posts will do just that. </span></div>
<b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For this first post, a couple of questions to ponder: </span></div>
<b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Who are the people in your life who have encouraged you into ministry? Have you thanked them? If not, send a note or text today. </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you “hold the keys” at your ministry, with whom are you sharing them? See the book </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Growing Young</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> from Fuller Youth Institute for more info. </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even if you’re new in ministry, what have you learned that you would share with an earlier version of yourself? Write that down and share it with someone who is newer than you in youth ministry. </span></div>
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<b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b>
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<span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: -webkit-standard; text-size-adjust: auto;"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: -webkit-standard; text-size-adjust: auto;" />drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-89092677845343034352017-04-05T10:27:00.001-07:002017-04-05T10:27:53.489-07:00Considering the Unexpected, in a Graveyard, in the Dark. <div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyndHYBYFvV32XBUMY8lMzup_Tpuab2mwdPazCWW0nd45n4lhhzKXzjQlDhQg6DdFCtW8gJWtuGRiEhNSurHzV-Nk6yts7c_XC_45YQkQiNT9wIwAb5bo4q_qOPwEbpJGbLRJi-g/s1600/100_1940.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyndHYBYFvV32XBUMY8lMzup_Tpuab2mwdPazCWW0nd45n4lhhzKXzjQlDhQg6DdFCtW8gJWtuGRiEhNSurHzV-Nk6yts7c_XC_45YQkQiNT9wIwAb5bo4q_qOPwEbpJGbLRJi-g/s320/100_1940.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you like surprises? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scary movies? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How do you deal with the unexpected? </span></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-02ac0ea9-3f23-ed3c-4363-df905c0598ec" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For me, I’d rather follow the Scouting motto and, “Be Prepared” than face anything that might disrupt my day. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What if I asked you these questions while we were walking in a graveyard in the early morning before dawn? Would your responses change? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I was a pastor I recall a graveside service I was leading on October 31st. It was early afternoon, but standing next to an open grave on that Halloween day did cause me to pause for thought. I definitely wouldn’t have liked a “surprise” of any sort on that day. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In general, when unexpected surprises in scary places come my way I respond with fear. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Matthew 28:1-10 we read the same reaction from those at the tomb of Jesus. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">7 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">9 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">10 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”</span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When we read this story in our day it’s easy to think, “Why were the women so afraid? They knew Jesus was going to rise from the dead.” But did they? We have the benefit of knowing the full story. To get a “feel” for the situation we need to recapture the utter astonishment these women felt. If we try and put ourselves in their shoes, we can feel a bit of their experience. </span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The truth of our human experience is we live in the moment. We can look back and make forecasts, but we really don’t know what is happening next. We try and figure it out and make plans based on predictions, and for the most part that works pretty well. For example, right now it’s raining outside. It was raining while I drove to work and the weather report for today says it will shower all day. I won’t be fearful of the rain or if a thunderstorm appears, I’m expecting it. In fact, to see sunshine today would be unexpected. I’m living today based on this prediction. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The resurrection of Jesus is a central proclamation of the early church. And looking back in time as we get to, we can miss the awe and wonder that it brings. I like to think if I were there I wouldn’t be afraid but would have walked boldly up to Jesus given him a high five and said, “Welcome back.” However if I’m honest, I know I would have been just as afraid as those who were there that day. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, notice there is also a different emotion present. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><b>Joy</b></i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. In verse 9 the women hurried away afraid, yet filled with joy. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I love it that in the midst of the unexpected, there was a profound sense of joy that Jesus was alive. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This Easter, try and put yourself in the shoes of those first responders. Allow yourself to feel the fear of a graveyard in the dark and seeing things you don’t expect to see. And because of the fear, then allow yourself to experience the tremendous joy of discovering that Jesus is there and he is alive. </span></div>
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drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-60554052483786546152017-03-03T15:19:00.000-08:002017-03-03T15:20:21.920-08:00MOOC Resources<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Y9qx7AyMmGXrAtET5wDhD6rKJKich-cS8VSlxXOEuqkOCEttq_pGSvTgxiMyOPnXQrzdpxiEh3vD4riL7I5DMtr5eetW7FUge90pXysNnv3kTjyGh1Rn6nVrGcOHd1AqaX8UKA/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="67" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Y9qx7AyMmGXrAtET5wDhD6rKJKich-cS8VSlxXOEuqkOCEttq_pGSvTgxiMyOPnXQrzdpxiEh3vD4riL7I5DMtr5eetW7FUge90pXysNnv3kTjyGh1Rn6nVrGcOHd1AqaX8UKA/s320/unnamed.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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On March 3rd I lead a session for educators at the iTrac Kansas conference on the usefulness of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC's) for personal and professional development. Here are some of the organizations offering MOOC's that I refer to:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiczGA7fsRrNI5d4y3ros4nz70X-QGFAvOqTvl_VVLa10KmN3VZRAHYQfthiJ8UfWMCiLlrlWvGL7ssZSuj653eFDvjVyktjQDSmzSTANXpUiomGFPuxGlQ2t6MxqPYhuGqUZXa2Q/s1600/edx-logo-header.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiczGA7fsRrNI5d4y3ros4nz70X-QGFAvOqTvl_VVLa10KmN3VZRAHYQfthiJ8UfWMCiLlrlWvGL7ssZSuj653eFDvjVyktjQDSmzSTANXpUiomGFPuxGlQ2t6MxqPYhuGqUZXa2Q/s1600/edx-logo-header.png" /></a></div>
<a href="https://www.edx.org/" target="_blank">https://www.edx.org/</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCndUA_zROvLv3LXejzsic7DF_jjUNxU26tPlsOiZ9hbFHA615mYXS8B1TxA4ByNsjDOrpaZujkrVX-bL7fbXifRnFHnAlorDABRg18UhM5Y_cYgK5ASAxmBMuoA1UGIm3VF6nAw/s1600/header-logo%25402x.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCndUA_zROvLv3LXejzsic7DF_jjUNxU26tPlsOiZ9hbFHA615mYXS8B1TxA4ByNsjDOrpaZujkrVX-bL7fbXifRnFHnAlorDABRg18UhM5Y_cYgK5ASAxmBMuoA1UGIm3VF6nAw/s1600/header-logo%25402x.png" /></a></div>
<a href="http://plusacumen.org/courses/" target="_blank">http://plusacumen.org/courses/</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVCTKn-2-17cskVFGQ4VEaHeoE1UGy7Q2aviwJPrPcHcVwe_t68vD7Y9OvNTWc1zSnYd0WvwqKEQVJxBauC2sUsX37Roq09sv3oIKlmTuFArfk53cyy_21X1SePXUOd-HZexTZiw/s1600/download2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVCTKn-2-17cskVFGQ4VEaHeoE1UGy7Q2aviwJPrPcHcVwe_t68vD7Y9OvNTWc1zSnYd0WvwqKEQVJxBauC2sUsX37Roq09sv3oIKlmTuFArfk53cyy_21X1SePXUOd-HZexTZiw/s1600/download2.png" /></a></div>
<a href="https://www.coursera.org/" target="_blank">https://www.coursera.org/</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPlq7W1yWbageHkvPIXc8cMUDFW1M-couKhhoraYmCexziIX9It4d1Z_rN_n9oyWQj4nc-0ztk_hhVvqJiH4xvbURqaUzVexUE5ysseBc8favX0rjZl3zUZ12xv_fakBQIoxX_-w/s1600/images.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPlq7W1yWbageHkvPIXc8cMUDFW1M-couKhhoraYmCexziIX9It4d1Z_rN_n9oyWQj4nc-0ztk_hhVvqJiH4xvbURqaUzVexUE5ysseBc8favX0rjZl3zUZ12xv_fakBQIoxX_-w/s320/images.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.udacity.com/" target="_blank">https://www.udacity.com/</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitzY2BB9fuJ7M1GYqKWT0cnR3s_rEhLtU0tix_5wepTsGsWeVg3X4JDIHNHZE9zcezyeH8l1p36C7I4wkL25iQYT1y6lEP0-9fRQRYNO112EBQ2soyYrlrisH8FWSdMnN09Xlucw/s1600/download3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitzY2BB9fuJ7M1GYqKWT0cnR3s_rEhLtU0tix_5wepTsGsWeVg3X4JDIHNHZE9zcezyeH8l1p36C7I4wkL25iQYT1y6lEP0-9fRQRYNO112EBQ2soyYrlrisH8FWSdMnN09Xlucw/s1600/download3.png" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.futurelearn.com/courses" target="_blank">https://www.futurelearn.com/courses</a><br />
<br />drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-22714383137415094372017-02-21T11:16:00.002-08:002017-02-21T11:16:44.510-08:00Revisiting Lament on the Youth Specialties Blog<br />
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A couple weeks ago I had a blog post published on the Youth Specialties website. I thought it turned out really well if I do say so myself.<br />
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If you didn't see it you can read the post here: <a href="https://youthspecialties.com/blog/revisiting-lament/" target="_blank">https://youthspecialties.com/blog/revisiting-lament/</a>drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-64351232808101034402017-02-08T13:35:00.001-08:002017-02-08T13:38:17.485-08:00New Tabor Ministry Entrepreneurship and Innovation video released todayWe just posted a brand new video about the Tabor MEI program. Have a look and let me know what you think.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/203064681" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="420"></iframe>
<a href="https://vimeo.com/203064681">
<br />Tabor College Wichita M.A. in Ministry Entrepreneurship and Innovation</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/taborcollege">Tabor College</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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If you'd like to talk more about this degree. Please message me. I'd love to chat with you.drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-43775280842454695292016-12-27T08:54:00.002-08:002016-12-27T08:54:14.663-08:00Wandering "Okies" today<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmjl1iMQnyoC8PNjwSBW_gajoNxLK9Dg3hvebfELVUrGDey5dDra43Ccwzg_btMyeNDOttZyu4m2_ZLjl1TsWPdbAyyA4VatCOi-5BthJJbaNg95LJKOii3k5ShFoNkF6h7a6Y3g/s1600/12645220_10205534891229926_360969760497009952_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmjl1iMQnyoC8PNjwSBW_gajoNxLK9Dg3hvebfELVUrGDey5dDra43Ccwzg_btMyeNDOttZyu4m2_ZLjl1TsWPdbAyyA4VatCOi-5BthJJbaNg95LJKOii3k5ShFoNkF6h7a6Y3g/s320/12645220_10205534891229926_360969760497009952_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I recently finished </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Grapes of Wrath, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">one of the most difficult-to-read novels I've picked up in a long time. For me, it was a difficult book, not due to the grammar, although the way Steinbeck quotes the "English" spoken in that time is very hard to comprehend, but because I had a very personal connection with the story. In many ways the difficult journey of the Joads' was also my grandparent’s story.</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-00b3c77b-4120-6af6-3484-e07566bc54de"><br /></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With fear that my High School English teacher will see this, I admit that this was the first time I had read this classic novel. And as I read about the Dust Bowl from Steinbeck's perspective I was shocked by the amount of total devastation in that region; as well as the ways the sharecropping farmers were kicked off their land to make way for "progress." The description of the automobile drive west and the family’s hopes of a new and blessed life in California was painful to read. The terrible treatment of the "Okies" by the Californians was also appalling.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtYewWcDuiBrCtdJHt7xz0yvwf_9MdKvuYvYX-Cht61sv2JHud1hwDUhBCvlTL51ILU9t2ETYI9VVevJHlbPxB8o2owmtjMYnpIF-FwgId2R_RIo8TWdPsEFtVOqvrMCuVkp6nIw/s1600/IMG_0867.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtYewWcDuiBrCtdJHt7xz0yvwf_9MdKvuYvYX-Cht61sv2JHud1hwDUhBCvlTL51ILU9t2ETYI9VVevJHlbPxB8o2owmtjMYnpIF-FwgId2R_RIo8TWdPsEFtVOqvrMCuVkp6nIw/s320/IMG_0867.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But why was it painful for me? I've read hard luck stories before; this time it was different. This time this was ‘my’ story. My mother’s family moved out from Oklahoma in the '30's, not due to the Dust Bowl but due to my grandpa's ill health. He had tuberculosis and needed to move to a drier climate. Unfortunately they picked a terrible time to move, when the ‘Joads’ and others were also on the road and seeking work in California.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a result of reading this novel, I now have an image of my sweet, tiny grandma picking fruit, cotton, and working long hours in a cannery or the walnut house. I discovered my grandparents lived with their seven children in a two-room "house," which was actually a converted chicken coop, for nine years! My mom was the only one of the kids born in California.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Their dreams in migrating were for a better life. As I think about my family, for many of us the dream has come true. All of us are better off than my grandparents.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The dream was fulfilled, just not for the first generation.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stories of refugees are common in our world today. Numerous people are moving from their homes to try and find a better life someplace else. Like the Joads, though, people don’t just move unless they are forced to by dire circumstances. Last June I was in Turkey about 20 miles from Aleppo, a city on the front pages of the news at the moment. While there, the group of students I was leading was able to meet with a number of Syrian refugees living in that region. We were treated to immense hospitality by these people who had fled their homes due to fighting; none of them wanted to leave, but were forced to due to outside circumstances. As I read how the Joads' maintained their humanity, even in the face of extreme dehumanization from the Californians, I was reminded of the beautiful Syrians we met in June. </span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-00b3c77b-4121-dffd-fd52-570a723f5114"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I write this, the city of Aleppo has been retaken by government forces. At the same time, a 7 year old girl in Aleppo has been tweeting her story- </span></span><a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/content/bana-alabed-7-year-old-twitter-user-from-aleppo-wi/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_content=global&utm_campaign=general-content&linkId=32585480" target="_blank">Bana Alabed escapes East Aleppo</a><br />
<span id="docs-internal-guid-00b3c77b-4122-8c92-2939-c7e192b0af90"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although not connected with the rebels, her home has been destroyed by government forces. Like the Joads', will her family make the move to a neighboring country to find a better life? (The link above shares how this family has been relocated to Turkey)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-00b3c77b-4123-ab01-def8-c43e04685e01"></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We’re currently in the season of Christmas, a time when Christians reflect on the birth narrative of Jesus. One of the interesting parts of Jesus story is the flight to Egypt shortly after the Magi leave. Jesus was a refugee. What if Egypt had closed their borders to immigrants and migrants? If Mary and Joseph had returned, would Jesus have been killed? </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwjrgSFR5G-WNWN7T6hhCch0fDmBiIXYhPeWqq31lVkBTyOxJOUC0nIuGEhgDoQxfZ7BF_sGCRfcwVCWCEC3N3kTNQi10x4ToQIhBJ1Mz9i0d3Le8McN5iM2GMHtBZ4QYp3B-rNA/s1600/Czu9haCVIAAyDGb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwjrgSFR5G-WNWN7T6hhCch0fDmBiIXYhPeWqq31lVkBTyOxJOUC0nIuGEhgDoQxfZ7BF_sGCRfcwVCWCEC3N3kTNQi10x4ToQIhBJ1Mz9i0d3Le8McN5iM2GMHtBZ4QYp3B-rNA/s320/Czu9haCVIAAyDGb.jpg" width="232" /></a></div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
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New Drawing "The Holy Family". Original and Prints are available!<a href="https://t.co/5x6SGmZ7DE">https://t.co/5x6SGmZ7DE</a> <a href="https://t.co/cInYVAjM0v">pic.twitter.com/cInYVAjM0v</a></div>
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— David Hayward (@nakedpastor) <a href="https://twitter.com/nakedpastor/status/809448959987056642">December 15, 2016</a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+2%3A13-15a&version=NIV" target="_blank">Matthew 2:13-15a:</a> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">13 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">14 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">15 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and they stayed there until Herod’s death.</span></div>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><b id="docs-internal-guid-00b3c77b-4124-0df3-61bd-50b2a923788d" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Knowing my families story makes me much more sympathetic to the plight of those who experience loss and hardship right now. Knowing Syrian people who have fled, hearing their stories and their desire to return home, and knowing Jesus and his family experienced the same trauma and hardships makes me long for a world where peace is seen. What can I do? How do I keep from becoming one of the oppressors? If we stop to think about it for just a few minutes, the story of migration is the story of almost all Americans. At some point our ancestors were in the same circumstances as the fictitious Joads and the very real Syrians like Bana. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I invite you to join me in one way to respond, by giving to the Mennonite relief agency MCC: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://mcc.org/learn/more/syria-iraq-crisis-response">https://mcc.org/learn/more/syria-iraq-crisis-response</a></span></div>
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<br />drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-33207632508990764202016-12-16T10:57:00.002-08:002016-12-16T10:57:17.464-08:00The sad death of Christmas Cards<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_JPyrPUN0Z4CikUJOLgeY6LEgy72QCfcSKywxt4-w_jUCm_DON6znBeIGYtN9iJMjwt72qRXP_VnYKXMgfKw4jVP7ra4oXrDEAUw1BZYrfzVtLe460UNwoI25RW7xdLxZ-bH3HQ/s1600/IMG_1576.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_JPyrPUN0Z4CikUJOLgeY6LEgy72QCfcSKywxt4-w_jUCm_DON6znBeIGYtN9iJMjwt72qRXP_VnYKXMgfKw4jVP7ra4oXrDEAUw1BZYrfzVtLe460UNwoI25RW7xdLxZ-bH3HQ/s320/IMG_1576.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-8a98832b-08fa-f4af-e466-15905d751646"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here we are in an old Christmas card photo</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Has the giving of Christmas cards died a quick and sad death?</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I awoke with the song “White Christmas” playing in my head the other morning. One line kept repeating over and over, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, with every Christmas card I write.” As this line kept looping I thought about how far from reality this seems. I admit that my wife and I no longer send Christmas cards and the majority of our friends don’t either. </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-8a98832b-08fa-82d2-ff90-53d3c94ed15a" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve also had a question rattling around in my thoughts, “How can I find ways to fully live the hope and expectation of the season of Advent, rather than stress and ‘Christmas’ for 30 days prior to the actual Christmas day. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These two random thoughts collided and I was left with a bigger question, “In previous generations, were writing and addressing Christmas cards one of the spiritual acts of Advent?” </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I understand it, Advent is a season of preparation, of spiritual and moral self-reflection in anticipation of entering the Christmas event. Christmas day is the culmination of that self-reflection capped off by the 12 days of Christmas. It seems to me this has completely flip-flopped. Christmas begins at the end of October and the entire season is a race up to the finish line- Chrismas day. I wonder if in the past taking the time to write and address a stack of cards helped slow down the pace and provide an opportunity to reflect on the season, rather than race through it. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Growing up, I remember receiving cards from family and friends and as a child I remember especially loving the ones that came with a photo of the senders family. Most of the time I knew the people in the image and sometimes I’d ask my parents who the people were. Other times the cards would have beautiful scenes and encouraging words on them. If we were lucky, they even had a check or a dollar or two for us kids. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fast forward a bit to when my children were small, Christmas cards still were sent and received. As a family we added a “twist,” we place all the cards we got in a basket on the dining table and would pray for the family from one card each night. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nowadays, we only receive a handful of cards each year. More and more of my friends post a Christmas photo on their Facebook page and wish their followers Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Facebook has killed Christmas cards. Time to write an obituary I suppose. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thinking about how Facebook has replaced Christmas cards gave me an idea of a spiritual practice to recapture the slowness and mindfulness of addressing numerous cards. I decided to go through my Facebook “friends” list and pray a prayer of blessing over each one. I sat last Saturday morning with this list and if you’re one of my friends I prayed for you. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here’s what I prayed: </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Numbers 6:24-26</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">24 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Lord bless you</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and keep you;</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">25 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the Lord make his face shine on you</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and be gracious to you;</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">26 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the Lord turn his face toward you</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and give you peace.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">May you experience peace and blessing this Christmas season. And if you’re not sending cards, I invite you to the practice of passing on the prayer and blessing to your Facebook, and wider, friends. </span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-8a98832b-08fc-6fa2-6019-19fa944ad97d"></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here’s the version of “White Christmas” I had playing in my head that day. I had this album on cassette back in the 90’s and wore it out playing it in the minivan with my kids. </span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XMRjco3ulKI" width="560"></iframe>
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drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-22303653131456677902016-12-09T08:09:00.000-08:002016-12-09T08:09:10.957-08:00Need a suggestion for a Christmas Gift? Pick up the Bad Habits of Jesus by Leonard Sweet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgPs7y6Y9uwU_AUlfiQV1Afv746TG1UrFJ-BBLZ3-EzVmyT08Sn5LkJ9Kw1MCyMMiVGa0OFOPt44uh3pT8h9FhAnHBx0TLbIrQdh0D6W_rwcOFc6fuYVCuDZ_Pn7wVP9AxbamZqQ/s1600/IMG_0864.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgPs7y6Y9uwU_AUlfiQV1Afv746TG1UrFJ-BBLZ3-EzVmyT08Sn5LkJ9Kw1MCyMMiVGa0OFOPt44uh3pT8h9FhAnHBx0TLbIrQdh0D6W_rwcOFc6fuYVCuDZ_Pn7wVP9AxbamZqQ/s320/IMG_0864.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first time I heard the phrase, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” I was around 10 years old. I was in my local library looking for adventure books; the librarian wanted me to read a certain novel and I didn’t like how the front cover looked. She gave me a stern lecture on how book covers are chosen and why it is unhelpful to evaluate a book solely on how it looks. I’ve tried to follow her advice ever since. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Judging by the image above, I can imagine some people seeing the cover of “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Habits-Jesus-Showing-Right/dp/1496417518/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481299462&sr=1-1&keywords=the+bad+habits+of+jesus" target="_blank">the Bad Habits of Jesus</a>” by Leonard Sweet and refusing to read it either because of the title or the “biker” image on the front. However in the words of my childhood librarian, save the judgement until after reading. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Bad Habits of Jesus starts with a premise that is sure to raise a question or two. Bad habits? How could Jesus have any bad habits? He’s Jesus after all. Son of God, sinless, perfect, healed people, great teacher; the thought that he did anything untoward goes against all that is taught in Sunday school. And yet, when Sweet put out a request on his Facebook page as a way of crowdsourcing his followers to list any bad habits they thought Jesus had, the page was flooded with comments. Apparently, when people think about it, there are a number of things that Jesus said or did that were outside the cultural norm of 1st Century Judaism, or ‘bad habits’. Among the many who had something to say were Sweet’s current Tabor College Ministry Entrepreneurship and Innovation students. A few of their “bad habit” observations made it into the book. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the 2000+ years since Jesus left this earth, many ideas have sprung up about who he was and what he did. Over the centuries the Church has often removed the radical, scandalous nature of Jesus of Nazareth, especially as the institution became more and more connected with the powerful and elite in society. Christian faith was reduced to a ticket to heaven, and the life and teachings of Jesus relegated to a backstory for what was ‘really’ important: Jesus’ death and resurrection. What I love about Leonard Sweet, and this book specifically, is that the author reminds his readers that who Jesus was and what he did matters, and for those who claim to carry his name, ‘Christian’, there is an expectation that his life be taken seriously. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the <a href="http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/apostles-creed-traditional-ecumenical" target="_blank">Apostles Creed</a> there is a significant comma. In the second stanza the creed states, </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">born of the Virgin Mary,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">suffered under Pontius Pilate,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">was crucified, died, and was buried;</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">he descended to the dead.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the third day he rose again;</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">he ascended into heaven,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">he is seated at the right hand of the Father,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and he will come to judge the living and the dead.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Did you see it? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The comma after ‘born of the Virgin Mary’ and before ‘suffered under Pontius Pilate.’ What goes in this space? The entire life and teachings of Jesus; unfortunately, this comma removes the entire life of Jesus and renders it irrelevant.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Throughout history, Christians have been so caught up in proving the significance of the death of Jesus, or his Divinity, that His humanity has been removed. What Sweet’s book attempts is to remind readers that Jesus was human as well as divine and that his life and teachings matter a great deal to his followers today. In this way, as Sweet points out on page 191, this is a book about the Incarnation. While Jesus walked this earth, what were some of these bad habits? Here’s a list of some of the chapters: Jesus Spit, Jesus Appeared Wasteful, Jesus was Constantly Disappearing, Jesus Hung out with Bad People, and others. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My favorite was Chapter 10: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesus Spent Too Much Time with Children</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. As someone who has worked with children and youth for 30+ years, I found much in this chapter to rejoice over. This quote stood out particularly, “Jesus treated children as if their relationship with God was an important as any adult relationships. Jesus constantly sacrificed his rabbinic dignity to reduce the distance between himself and a child. Jesus preached to the children, hoping the adults would get it. That’s one reason he told stories.” (pg. 116-117) As I get older and more “dignified”, I need to continually remind myself that Jesus sacrificed his rabbinic dignity to bless children. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My devotional reading this week has focused on Luke 6:46-49. In verse 46 Jesus states, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I say?” Notice the focus is on doing, not believing, trusting, or holding onto a golden ticket, but </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">doing</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> what Jesus says. What I loved about </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Bad Habits of Jesus </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">was the reintroduction of how truly radical and life changing putting Jesus words into practice really is as a follower.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I read this book and highly recommend it. If you’re still thinking of a gift for someone on your Christmas list, this would be an excellent choice. </span></div>
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drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-27826438251959564282016-12-02T09:46:00.000-08:002016-12-02T09:46:34.450-08:00"Behold" = time to pay attention<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimLKnH6zIG5I6oTfQ4alZcpKc9K7AWWQuEFJ2eiAdFRw5_ctpMivd7WLxMcgagjLyMDtaov1O04uBvABBGlniprtvTePkq6nQsObhk9hs-vVqKllaPHexoZBQV8XiQ3EDAJz8s7Q/s1600/card_stylised_angel_xmas_christmas-555px.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimLKnH6zIG5I6oTfQ4alZcpKc9K7AWWQuEFJ2eiAdFRw5_ctpMivd7WLxMcgagjLyMDtaov1O04uBvABBGlniprtvTePkq6nQsObhk9hs-vVqKllaPHexoZBQV8XiQ3EDAJz8s7Q/s320/card_stylised_angel_xmas_christmas-555px.png" width="311" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Luke 2:10:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">10 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve always loved the part of the Christmas story where the vast host of angels show up. There’s something about the way a calm and “normal” night was disrupted by the heavenly visitors that intrigues me. I imagine what it would have been like for the poor shepherds, minding their own business when the sky lit up. Talk about shocking. If it were me, I would have run. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even more specific than the appearance of the angels, I’ve been drawn in this story to the angel of the LORD’s initial greeting, “Do not be afraid; for behold...” In more modern translations the word “behold” is not included. However, I believe this word is key to the story. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have a friend named Dave. When we were younger, we both were volunteers in the same youth ministry. One year we were running a fall carnival with games, bounce houses and a wagon ride complete with hay bales to sit on. Dave, in an attempt at humor, stood by the hay ride all night shouting to any passerby, “HEY!” When they looked at him, he would point to the hay bale and laugh. Like Dave, Luke is drawing the reader and grabbing his or her attention. “Behold” means “look” or “hey!” and there is a sense of urgency behind this word. The person speaking wants his or her hearers to pay attention. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And in this use in Luke’s gospel what was there to ‘behold?’ For the shepherds, the announcement is a sign of good news, of joy, a baby and messiah come to earth. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was curious, were there other instances in the Bible where the word “behold” is used referring to the Messiah? I found two places which I believe serve as bookends for Jesus’ story. If this ‘behold’ in Luke is the central proclamation, the other two are no less significant. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first is in Isaiah 42:1-4:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My chosen one </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in whom</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> My soul delights.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have put My Spirit upon Him;</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He will bring forth justice to the nations.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“He will not cry out or raise </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His voice</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nor make His voice heard in the street.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“A bruised reed He will not break</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He will faithfully bring forth justice.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“He will not be disheartened or crushed</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Until He has established justice in the earth;</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first thing that hits me about this “Behold” is the picture of a Servant who looks a lot like Jesus: delighted in by God, full of the Spirit, and gentle in word and deed. His primary mission is bringing justice, a word used three times in this passage. We sometimes read this word through a North American legal lens, but the Hebrew perspective of justice is producing honorable relationships, bringing peace - shalom- to individuals and the nations. Most scholars would equate this Servant with Jesus. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The other bookend “behold” comes at the end of Jesus’ life from the mouth of Pontius Pilate in John 19:5: “Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pilate</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> said to them, ‘Behold, the Man!’”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In each instance, the voice inviting the hearers to “behold” is not the person himself, but rather someone else inviting people to pay attention. Unlike the other two instances, here the “behold” points to a prisoner, and yet this is not dissimilar from the servant seen in Isaiah. Behold- here is one who came to sacrifice all to generate justice to the nations. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we enter into the Christmas season and hear or see the word “Behold” in readings, carols, or greeting cards, may we pay attention and see the bigger picture: </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Servant bringing justice</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Savior and messiah</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-f55db333-c09a-501a-95d0-cd7ef7e18103"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Sacrifice for the nations</span></div>
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drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-63991441090817581102016-11-21T05:43:00.002-08:002016-11-21T05:43:20.951-08:00Remembering Memory<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzj9f57IWD_EHPAXRE5msYQfJAvhwIHGcZLbeaNDdpvYaafmJ5qIp9LDUXQoolqXU9raXb1Ql0BRbWXz_OYQpMcWN6bTcHUMiJg5QESIVAjsxm96tXjaq5ON4rntAusj-sf4Xyrw/s1600/IMG_0799.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzj9f57IWD_EHPAXRE5msYQfJAvhwIHGcZLbeaNDdpvYaafmJ5qIp9LDUXQoolqXU9raXb1Ql0BRbWXz_OYQpMcWN6bTcHUMiJg5QESIVAjsxm96tXjaq5ON4rntAusj-sf4Xyrw/s320/IMG_0799.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In mid October I had the privilege of participating in a United Methodist national youth leadership conference in Malawi. I was there to teach on entrepreneurship as one component of the program. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While there, one of the young men I met was named Memory. He was a part of the hosting church and was helping out with the sound system. I was amazed by his “MacGyver” nature, he was always fixing things or making the technology work with minimal resources. He's in the photo with me above. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Over the duration of the event I was able to get to know Memory and his older brother Ezekiel and to hear a bit of their story. Both were active members of the host church and had experienced the sadness and loss of their father. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Memory has a dream, to go to University and complete a business degree. In a larger sense, I learned from numerous conversations, higher education is a dream for nearly every young person I met; Malawians see schooling as a path out of the extreme poverty they live under. In fact, I heard two primary requests while I was there, “please help me continue my education” and “can you help me get an internet phone?” The interesting thing was, these were not random youth I was meeting on the street, these were young people who have been called into leadership by their local churches. What was sad to learn is a student can attend University for about $50 per month and that’s still an amount that is out of reach. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A jarring observation for me was a lack of older adults in our interactions. Due to AIDS and other illnesses, 67% of the country is under twenty-four years old. This reality brings a lot of promise, but also a lot of challenges. If education is out of reach for so many, the future is not promising. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a ONE member I support the bi-partisan Education for All Act and I encourage you to support it too. This act will be one more link in the chain to help young people like Memory have access to schools. In the meantime, I’m trying to figure out a way to support students like Memory and the other young leaders in Malawi who are hoping and dreaming for a pathway to attend school. For more information and to join me in using our voices to seek change check the ONE.org site: <a href="https://www.one.org/us/2016/10/04/the-education-for-all-act-is-on-its-way-to-the-senate/" target="_blank">Education for All</a></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-222cd088-871d-7b72-75ce-ceae224c93ee"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So I remember Memory today. And pray and act to see he is able to complete his business degree. </span></div>
drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-71654243726171044002016-02-06T08:51:00.000-08:002016-02-06T08:51:56.681-08:00Cultural Hooks<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Acura NSX ad hit my Twitter feed this week. In the commercial a car is crafted to the soundtrack of David Lee Roth shouting and screaming, music building with percussion, and finally Eddie Van Halen’s signature guitar. It’s the intro to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Running with the Devil</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a big hit from the late 70’s. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JSlPxMLDP-Q/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JSlPxMLDP-Q?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-c15ce47a-b777-9b95-c3b3-6c3ea063ad23" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The curious twist is when the song is really kicking off, the words “What he said” appear on the screen. No lyrics are every sung. The message is clear (at least for me), if you buy this car you’re running with the devil too. It’s a brilliant piece of marketing. At least for a child of the 80’s who grew up on Van Halen and what is now called, “Classic Rock.” And with a price tag of $150,000, people my age are probably exactly the kind of people Acura is targeting. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Or are they? I watched the commercial with my 18 year old daughter who loves cars. I’m not sure where in our family this comes from, but she could be classified as a motorhead. She loved the ad, the way it played up the car, the streamlined body, the powerful engine, but when I asked her after we watched it, “What do you think ‘what he said’ meant?” She thought it had to do with the screaming; the fact this car is so awesome you too will want to scream (and maybe that’s correct). But she missed the cultural hook. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This commercial got me thinking about the Bible. Not in the, “how can I stop running with the devil” way, but rather the many times the characters or writers of the New Testament quote the Hebrew scriptures with one tiny fragment when they might have intended it to be a cultural hook. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One needs to understand that people in Jesus’ day had basically memorized the entire Old Testament. Since there were very few copies of the texts, students (which was pretty much all of Jewish society), would spend time memorizing the entire set of 39 books. When a religious leader wanted to make a point, he would quote one part of the passage and expect his listeners to fill in the rest. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For example, when Jesus was hanging on the cross, he quoted Psalm 22, verse 1, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) And a reader can easily stop there. However, if a person reads on (or has memorized) the entire Psalm, some very rich insights emerge. I encourage the reader to do this.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+22&version=NIV">Psalm 22</a></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In addition, the writer of the book of Hebrews does something similar in numerous places in the book. For example, in Hebrews 2:12 the author also quotes Psalm 22:22 which again points to the entire Psalm and the work of Jesus. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is more to be written on this topic, but I’ll stop for now. My commitment this week is to be more mindful of how I use cultural hooks as well as to identify where cultural hooks are being used all around me. I also want to check more closely when I find these hooks in literature, poetry, or my reading of the Bible. And I’ll especially be on the lookout for them when I watch the advertisements during Super Bowl 50 tomorrow. </span></div>
drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-76306839380411339002015-09-10T07:59:00.000-07:002015-09-10T07:59:33.932-07:00The Lost World of Genesis 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhH6Q0z0Q_IryWTS7qcS7rNt-3zN06IL3xnRFf4Vxpr7tId5v_HPqv24LsmoNFZ8lGlIdUC85yEDbOw-hoxRd5H8p25CGmcAgDUiH9BPxuDKrwwD5-I3P6SWHVFFVn1-03qAWXHw/s1600/41GOJy03JKL._SX331_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhH6Q0z0Q_IryWTS7qcS7rNt-3zN06IL3xnRFf4Vxpr7tId5v_HPqv24LsmoNFZ8lGlIdUC85yEDbOw-hoxRd5H8p25CGmcAgDUiH9BPxuDKrwwD5-I3P6SWHVFFVn1-03qAWXHw/s320/41GOJy03JKL._SX331_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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I remember as a sophomore transferring to Fresno Pacific College, a Christian college in Fresno CA. I went there expecting it to be like summer camp all year long. I remember now my shock when, in my first course on the ancient world, I read the Enuma Elish and discovered that other civilizations had stories of creation that were similar, yet different from the Bible. Before this time I lived in a bubble that the only creation story ever told was the Biblical one.<br />
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Through study I've come to realize there are multiple creation stories from the Ancient Near East and, because humans are curious, each culture has sought to explain the world and humanity's place in it.<br />
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I recently finished the book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lost-World-Genesis-One-Cosmology/dp/0830837043/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1441646747&sr=1-1&keywords=the+lost+world+of+genesis+one">The Lost World of Genesis 1</a> by John H. Walton. In it, he seeks to unpack the creation story of the Bible while placing it in the context of creation narratives from the nations around the Israelites at that time. Walton argues the original hearers of Genesis 1 would have understood the creation story in a vastly different way than we do today and we would do well to step back and consider this point of view.<br />
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Walton presents a case the creation story is one of purpose, rather than material creation. That the questions the Israelites were asking were more about how things work and function rather than how God made something from nothing. The ancient Israelites assumed God created, it's just they were more concerned with function and purpose. He concludes his book with something I had never thought of before, the Day 7 section in Genesis 1 would have sounded similar to other stories' temple passages; which would mean the creation story is about God creating and dwelling in his temple. And that on Day 7, when the text says, "God rested," the image is God sitting in his temple ready to rule.<br />
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I've spent a lot of time in the Bible and this was the first time I'd heard Walton's point of view. I found it intriguing and made me want to study more.<br />
<br />drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-11112702676524708462015-08-25T05:08:00.000-07:002015-08-25T05:08:37.822-07:00The gift of skilled artisans<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3wOgJnJYZQcywnllbvzDQHeRznpSTEy_Rmx7i2Kr3ryLP2lWN2gDQm2NsmvOCUzZcBV0PcriTbZe2v1ZvcQF75mgpxGHxJ6OzGALyUzl6SbolgDfekTCBFxW_Oyc4WRxLFOxBlQ/s1600/IMG_0239.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3wOgJnJYZQcywnllbvzDQHeRznpSTEy_Rmx7i2Kr3ryLP2lWN2gDQm2NsmvOCUzZcBV0PcriTbZe2v1ZvcQF75mgpxGHxJ6OzGALyUzl6SbolgDfekTCBFxW_Oyc4WRxLFOxBlQ/s320/IMG_0239.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
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I was reminded today of a piece of art I saw when I was in Bogota in 2008. This quilt is one of 3 and was made by local women who had been displaced by violence in Colombia. As one can see from the photo, this quilt depicts a village scene, which, apart from the two boys fighting in the top, is happy and peaceful. The other quilts in the series present a much darker reality. (That's Emily in the bottom right, one of the leaders of the <a href="http://mcc.org/">MCC</a> - sponsored tour)<br />
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The quilt came to mind when I read this story today.<br />
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<span class="text Exod-35-30" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">3</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">0 </span>Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="text Exod-35-31" id="en-NIV-2563" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">31 </span>and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-2563B" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-2563B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>—</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="text Exod-35-32" id="en-NIV-2564" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">32 </span>to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="text Exod-35-33" id="en-NIV-2565" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">33 </span>to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="text Exod-35-34" id="en-NIV-2566" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">34 </span>And he has given both him and Oholiab<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-2566C" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-2566C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-2566D" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-2566D" title="See cross-reference D">D</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> others.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"></span><span class="text Exod-35-35" id="en-NIV-2567" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">35 </span>He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-2567E" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-2567E" title="See cross-reference E">E</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"></span><span class="text Exod-36-1" id="en-NIV-2568" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="chapternum mid-paragraph" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; bottom: -0.15em; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold; left: 0px; line-height: 0.8em; position: relative;">36 </span><span class="versenum mid-paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">1 </span>So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-2568F" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-2568F" title="See cross-reference F">F</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> to whom the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-2568G" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-2568G" title="See cross-reference G">G</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> are to do the work just as the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> has commanded.”</span></i></span><br />
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I've read this story many times and have often thought about how cool it would be to have these kinds of abilities. My great-grandfather was a master carpenter/contractor and built a number of landmarks in Long Beach, CA. My grandfather built furniture from scratch, sometimes using just a photograph as a guide. And my mom has skills making fridge magnets and other cool items, but unfortunately, none of that skill got passed on to me.<br />
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As a teacher, and someone who would love to learn artistic skills, the phrase that really jumped out at me is verse 34. Both Bezalel and Oholiab had the ability to teach others. Not only were they skilled artisans, but they both had the ability to teach; a combination that can't always be assumed.<br />
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As a teacher, I want to be a person who combines knowledge with skill. I also want to find ways to make things with deep meaning like the women in Colombia. They used this medium to share a powerful story of hurt and loss. Their craftsmanship helped me to enter into their story. <br />
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Now I need to find more people like Bezalel and Oholiab to teach me how to hammer a nail or paint a picture.<br />
<br />drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-10336206891944386542015-08-22T06:44:00.003-07:002015-08-22T06:44:39.233-07:00Dark Ink<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-vUXkUMac82BN9u4Ufex4pM3mj3CmBLT2U5QakNfcdh9mLeSgXlf23g6W0XLVz4nL5mtzDraq2ell6a6SM48sZ8U84HK1aK1lJ0rlnBPR3NfPVfBoBGoc9N0kJF6tQ43x6Vh2OQ/s1600/IMG_0304.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-vUXkUMac82BN9u4Ufex4pM3mj3CmBLT2U5QakNfcdh9mLeSgXlf23g6W0XLVz4nL5mtzDraq2ell6a6SM48sZ8U84HK1aK1lJ0rlnBPR3NfPVfBoBGoc9N0kJF6tQ43x6Vh2OQ/s320/IMG_0304.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.6000003814697px;">"The strongest memory is weaker than the palest ink"- Chinese proverb.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.6000003814697px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.6000003814697px;">Thanks for my friends Paul and Sally Nash who write <a href="https://markerpostsandshelters.wordpress.com/2015/08/19/wondering-wednesdays-write-the-thought-down/">Marker Posts and Shelters</a>. I came across this proverb this week. It got me thinking about the numerous articles, tweets, thoughts, and videos that come across my desk each day. With most I think, "This is so amazing, I'll never forget this." And yet, as the proverb so aptly states, with only a few exceptions, these great ideas soon vanish like mist. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.6000003814697px;">So, encouraged by this proverb and the practice of Paul and Sally who blog regularly. I'm embarking on a regular blogging track. I'll be writing on whatever struck me that day. It might be a video I saw on Yahoo News. It might be a tweet, or a section of a book I'm reading, it might be something I read that morning as I sat with God. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.6000003814697px;">I know occasionally this will be read by others, but my reason for writing is so I don't forget what I'm learning along the way. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.6000003814697px;">I titled this post "dark ink." I'm hoping this practice and discipline will build a bridge to memory. </span><br />
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<br />drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-84034698659701394132015-05-03T06:50:00.001-07:002015-08-18T07:18:02.436-07:00An unlikely activist<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4H5rL7o5Cbp_vR8Ab_SOD8ql8GWBeQivPzS2ZEgZuGnOrT-Fvkq8wCzQgw0qTqarlU2nxciKV3oM5ANomvRJ_wZliYUp2HdPj0M1aCAajc_jXDH8kr2cWfCFHZd57s0EwNjG56Q/s1600/IMG_0172.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4H5rL7o5Cbp_vR8Ab_SOD8ql8GWBeQivPzS2ZEgZuGnOrT-Fvkq8wCzQgw0qTqarlU2nxciKV3oM5ANomvRJ_wZliYUp2HdPj0M1aCAajc_jXDH8kr2cWfCFHZd57s0EwNjG56Q/s320/IMG_0172.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'm an unlikely activist. </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-148e2342-1a04-9efe-a7aa-89837f166a35" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I was a college student I was focused on preparation for ministry and ‘saving souls.’ My dreams, plans, and desires were how to be more effective in youth ministry, camps, mission trips, etc. I strove to be a person who made an impact, and what mattered was how the now impacted the ‘future coming glory.’ </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I recall one instance on my college campus where a student group was showing a film relating to to the actions of the CIA in El Salvador. At the time, I couldn't be bothered to go and see it, I wasn't into 'social justice.' </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After a number of years in full-time ministry my story slowly began to change. Etched into my memory is a trip to Mexico, where our group lead a vacation Bible school (VBS), and one of the activities was a craft. On this day we had children glue beans and macaroni to a plate to make a picture. The VBS was held in a home and at the end we gave the leftover macaroni and beans to the hostess. As we were cleaning up to go back to our basecamp and American style dinner, I noticed the hostess sweeping the dirt floor to pick up the beans and macaroni that had fallen during the craft. It suddenly hit me that for her beans and macaroni were FOOD not craft materials. My North American cultural arrogance hit me hard. I determined at that point never to do a craft that included food items again. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My path toward activism continued to change after my wife and I went to Great Britain to live and work. My eyes were opened to a global world which was different than my sheltered American upbringing. I met followers of Jesus from a variety of cultures who thought and lived very differently to me. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While living in the UK I was able to travel to a number of countries, including Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was just after the war in the late '90's and I saw firsthand the devastation of extreme poverty. I had seen poverty in Mexico, but the depth of poverty in this war torn country was shocking. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That trip, and others around the globe like it, have shaped me in profound ways. My own naive college-student ideas of both theology and what 'social justice' meant has shifted.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 2006 I heard about ONE and the work it was doing to alleviate poverty in Africa. My family had lived in the UK during the turn of the millennium when the "Make Poverty History" campaign began and at that time had tried to participate and promote it. Because the goals were similar, I signed up for ONE. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ONE is a bi-partisan organization which describes itself on the website ONE.org as: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ONE is an international campaigning and advocacy organization of more than 6 million people taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa because the facts show extreme poverty has already been cut by 60% and can be virtually eliminated by 2030, but only if we act with urgency now. Cofounded by Bono, we raise public awareness and work with political leaders to combat AIDS and preventable diseases, increase investments in agriculture and nutrition, and demand greater transparency so governments are accountable to their citizens.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a point of entry into “activism”, with ONE it was easy to feel like an activist- the website is set up in such a way that all I needed to do was click and I was able to send a message to my congressperson on issues of poverty in Africa, mosquito nets, immunizations, and electricity. I was what some call a 'clicktavist' and it felt good to help. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My family moved to Wichita in 2013 and through conversation with the ONE headquarters I have become more involved. I agreed to the role of Regional Faith Leader (RFL) for Wichita. By this step I have moved deeper into activism. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The role of RFL led to me attending the ONE Power Summit in Washington DC at the beginning of March. I gathered with about 150 fellow ONE members from around the USA to learn more about the issues of global poverty to hear from policy makers from across party lines, and to spend a day on Capitol Hill talking to Senators and Congresspersons about issues of electricity, immunizations, and global HIV/Aids treatments. It was fun to visit Kansas lawmakers with fellow Kansans to talk about these issues. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I've come along way from college when I wouldn't see a film because it had to do with peace and justice. I now actively promote these issues because I see the Kingdom of God as much more than "pray a prayer so you can go to heaven when you die". I believe that the Church is called to make a difference here and now in this world. As Jesus says in Matthew 25:40: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Please join me and the other 6 million ONE members from around the world by adding your voice to speak up for the world’s poor at </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.one.org/">ONE.org</a></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I plan on writing more about ONE and issues of poverty in the future. Stay tuned. </span></div>
drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-75938729936670923202014-12-15T13:30:00.000-08:002015-08-18T07:18:50.357-07:00Gift Exchange<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span class="text"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">7 </span></sup></i></b></span><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But to each one of us</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt;">grace</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt;">has been given</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt;">as Christ apportioned it.</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">8 </span></sup></i></b></span><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This is why it</span></i></span><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 7.5pt;">[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+4#fen-NIV-29281a" title="See footnote a"><span style="color: #b34b2c; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">a</span></a>]</span></sup></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt;">says:</span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“When he ascended on high,</span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span></i><span class="indent-1-breaks"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Courier; font-size: 5.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">he took
many captives</span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span></i><span class="indent-1-breaks"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Courier; font-size: 5.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and gave
gifts to his people.”</span></i></span><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+4#fen-NIV-29281b" title="See footnote b"><span style="color: #b34b2c; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">b</span></a>]</span></sup></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">….</i><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">11 </span></sup></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So Christ himself gave the
apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, </span></i><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">12 </span></sup></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">to equip his people for works of service, so that
the body of Christ may be built up </span></i><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">13 </span></sup></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">until we
all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of
God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness
of Christ. Ephesians 4: 7-8, 11-13. </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Gifts are something we exchange during this Christmas time.
Have you ever thought about why we do this? <o:p></o:p></div>
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I suppose it could be due to the Wise Men. We all know they
brought their gifts to Jesus. I also suppose it could be because of St. Nicholas,
the real person, who lived in Turkey in the in the early 300’s and used his
inheritance to help the sick, needy, and suffering. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Today’s passage leads us to a different place. Maybe we give
gifts because Jesus also gave gifts to us. The gifts from Jesus include people:
you and me, and the special abilities that we uniquely bring to our faith
communities. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Here at Tabor College this year we exchanged gifts with one
another. However we did something completely different than any gift exchange
I’d ever experienced before. We exchanged the gift of prayer. Each person was
given the name of a colleague in the office and invited to pray for that person
and his or her family for a week. We were instructed to write down any verses,
words, or pictures we had while we prayed for the person; and finally, at the “gift
exchange” we shared those words, pictures, verses, etc. with the person. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I have to say this is one of the most memorable staff
Christmas times I’ve ever experienced. I’ve loved the laughter of funny White
Elephant gift exchanges, but for the impact and meaning, it will be hard to
beat this year. <o:p></o:p></div>
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For whom can you give the gift of prayer? What true gifts
can all of us give to those we love this Christmas? <o:p></o:p></div>
drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-71028273385166095592014-08-31T15:13:00.001-07:002014-08-31T15:13:50.166-07:00Lament or Pop Song Lyric? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4L8Btn6ygOYsvkH6WGIKVHFExgruNdbUpJvfJfpA-qGKzL5KW06wCzdl8RCblGlHm0eWiwtudUQkEed_yxFAa3okA9KgTovzhemmOnC7cSXd_f99_6a43erhZD_QL29dbO80syQ/s1600/LamentationsOrTaylorSwiftLyrics_Title_720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4L8Btn6ygOYsvkH6WGIKVHFExgruNdbUpJvfJfpA-qGKzL5KW06wCzdl8RCblGlHm0eWiwtudUQkEed_yxFAa3okA9KgTovzhemmOnC7cSXd_f99_6a43erhZD_QL29dbO80syQ/s1600/LamentationsOrTaylorSwiftLyrics_Title_720.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I know not all the people reading this are parents of teenagers like I am. But I would guess that most of you have heard of pop/country singer Taylor Swift. Swift has created a musical empire by singing songs focused on breakups and love gone wrong. </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-a275801b-2e1b-3e7b-61a6-431352ca6d35" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m a volunteer youth leader at my church. It’s a wonderful job to have, especially after 30+ years of working full-time with teenagers. I like the freedom of just showing up and helping out. My usual task is to lead the games and this past week I purchased a game show from a youth ministry website called <a href="http://downloadyouthministry.com/">DownloadYouthMinistry</a>. The game was called: “Taylor Swift or Lamentations.” The powerpoint based game highlighted lyrics on the screen and the contestant had to identify if the words were from a Taylor Swift song, or Lamentations in the Bible. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The game is not as easy as one might think. Swift has written some pretty powerful lines and Jeremiah penned some pretty contemporary insights. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Running the game on Wednesday night got me thinking about connections between loss and lament. In the book of Psalms, laments far outnumber any other kind of songs. When people feel loss and pain one way to deal with it is to write and sing a song; that’s certainly what Taylor Swift has done. As a friend who was studying counseling once said to me, “One thing that all humans share is an experience of loss.” I’ve never forgotten that. Laments are praises in the time when God seems hidden and absent. It’s also the freedom to let God know exactly how we feel without holding anything back. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Biblical laments can be personal or communal and generally follows a 6-step process: </span></div>
<ol style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Address to God</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Complaint</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Confession of trust</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Petition</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Words of assurance</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vow of praise</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Read Psalm 42 which is a personal lament. Notice how it is written in poetry, as a song. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1 As the deer pants for streams of water,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> so my soul pants for you, my God.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> When can I go and meet with God?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3 My tears have been my food</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> day and night,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">while people say to me all day long,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “Where is your God?”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4 These things I remember</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as I pour out my soul:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">how I used to go to the house of God</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> under the protection of the Mighty One[d]</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">with shouts of joy and praise</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> among the festive throng.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Why so disturbed within me?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Put your hope in God,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for I will yet praise him,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> my Savior and my God.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6 My soul is downcast within me;</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> therefore I will remember you</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">from the land of the Jordan,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">7 Deep calls to deep</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in the roar of your waterfalls;</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all your waves and breakers</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> have swept over me.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8 By day the Lord directs his love,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> at night his song is with me—</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> a prayer to the God of my life.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">9 I say to God my Rock,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “Why have you forgotten me?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why must I go about mourning,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> oppressed by the enemy?”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">10 My bones suffer mortal agony</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as my foes taunt me,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">saying to me all day long,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “Where is your God?”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Why so disturbed within me?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Put your hope in God,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for I will yet praise him,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> my Savior and my God.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I know that with the beginning of the school year most people are excited and ready to go. Loss and lament can often seem far away. Yet I also know that as the term goes on, as family situations unfold, and as circumstances come up; many of us find ourselves experiencing loss of some type. Rather than bitterness, I hope we’ll turn to songs of lament to help us express ourselves. No matter who the author: Jeremiah, King David, or Taylor Swift. </span></div>
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<br />drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-85490241138469922192014-08-26T05:16:00.002-07:002014-08-26T05:16:40.087-07:00Hope for the Journey<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Psalm 39:4-7 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">New Living Translation (NLT)</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lord</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Remind me that my days are numbered—</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> how fleeting my life is.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> My entire lifetime is just a moment to you;</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> at best, each of us is but a breath.” Interlude</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are merely moving shadows,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We heap up wealth,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> not knowing who will spend it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">7 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And so, Lord, where do I put my hope?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> My only hope is in you.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-ad932108-123e-4b8a-6411-9d91e406d701" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This passage “jumped out” at me this morning when I came to it as part of a daily reading plan. I had already been thinking about the brevity of life after a conversation this week with a friend who had recently lost a parent. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I spent almost four years as a pastor of an older, established congregation. This congregation had a significant number of older people, and during my time there I participated in more funerals than I can count. One personal take-away for me during this time was a constant reminder that I needed to count my days and realize that each day, each moment, was important. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why this reflection as part of a devotional for Tabor College? Shifting the focus a bit from the end of life to pursuing studies; like our students, I also completed a degree while working full-time, juggling family life, and constant studying. I know how easy it can be to focus exclusively on the end goal. “Just get it done” can become all one lives for during this time. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And this is important; focus toward the end goal is critical. But sometimes I think it’s just as important, just like a driver who momentarily looks down at the instrument panel to gage speed, temperature, and to check the gas; that during an intense period in life it’s important to look down, and evaluate the brevity of life and to take some time to stop and celebrate. Go to the movies, play with our children, read a (fun) book on the back deck. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After listing what could be seen as a bunch of negatives, the Psalmist reiterates that his hope is ultimately in God alone. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">May we be people who hope in God. Who look toward the goal, but also glance down and see the good gifts all around us. </span></div>
drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-1061752056455475192014-08-10T07:25:00.000-07:002014-08-10T07:25:19.881-07:00How do you smell? <iframe height="480" src="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9LOeDvFgwCuel93cDFuRHF6TEk/preview" width="640"></iframe><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the same seminar where we discussed not weighing a chicken (see last week’s blog post), we also talked about how we “smell” to others. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During the seminar one of the participants, a North American, shared about a time when he was in Africa as part of an international group, on a 3 hour drive, sharing a small, packed, windows that didn’t open, non air-conditioned minivan. For this person, the strong smell of body odor in the van was almost unbearable. However later, when the storyteller was talking with a fellow passenger, the fellow passenger stated, “It was so difficult for me to sit next to you on that trip, the smell of the cologne you had on was unbearable.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For those of us from North America, we work hard each day to make sure we smell good when we leave the house for work. I have a 15 year old son who thinks it’s appropriate to use a half a can of body spray every time he passes his bathroom (ok, maybe not half a can, but you get the picture). We can smell him coming before we see him most times. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thinking of how we “smell” reminded me of the Apostle Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 2:14b-16a. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">15 </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">16 </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I really like this text even though it troubles me too. I like the idea that believers in Jesus bring not only words and deeds but also a “smell” when interacting with others. I hope and pray that the smell I bring will be one that is easily recognized as a sweet, life-giving perfume. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the same time the passage troubles me because I know from college biology classes that sometimes a flower or substance needs to be broken and crushed in order to release a smell. I don’t know about you but I don’t like that possibility; like most of us, I want an easy life. But if we were to read further in the book of 2 Corinthians one would see that for Paul, suffering, beatings, and persecution was not the exception, but the norm. Could this be why he “smelled” so good? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The text is also clear that we can’t control how people respond to our smell. For some, it’s life-giving and sweet. For others, it’s the smell of death and doom. I was thinking about Paul’s historical context a bit this week. Imagine the scene with Caesar conquering a country. A victory parade is given using flowers, incense, etc. For those who welcomed the conqueror, the parade would be a joyful time, but for those enemies who had fought against him, the parade coming down the street may smell completely different, instead it is the smell of an upcoming execution. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We can’t control how people respond, but we can control how the “smell” reaches them. We can treat each person as unique, loved, and special. A number of years ago, Tony Campolo wrote a book titled, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Following Jesus without Embarrassing God</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Campolo’s basic premise is: if we’re honest, we Christians sometimes behave in ways which must make God look ridiculous to those outside the faith. If the book were being re-written today it might be re-titled: “How do you smell?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">May we be people who bring the perfume of life into every situation we encounter. </span></div>
</span>drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-38352209138912003372014-08-03T07:34:00.000-07:002014-08-03T07:36:37.799-07:00"Don't weigh my chicken"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF2Ynwh6-ryTHwK3vqHXqz0gNdP8G2JcFIJt55b9RpooBvrmk7TScLwGoUCSSkt-ckDkGiKgF9BfGhQ0dIrpITy07kEWnAxcW639tlPEh0SD59GVj9tCNimi0Ci9WhJNoyv5SecA/s1600/Skinny_Chicken_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF2Ynwh6-ryTHwK3vqHXqz0gNdP8G2JcFIJt55b9RpooBvrmk7TScLwGoUCSSkt-ckDkGiKgF9BfGhQ0dIrpITy07kEWnAxcW639tlPEh0SD59GVj9tCNimi0Ci9WhJNoyv5SecA/s1600/Skinny_Chicken_1.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Don’t weigh my chicken” </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-0c7bc730-9c44-deae-5a19-2c15a4a01475" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last week I was at the national conference of <a href="http://www.usmb.org/">US Mennonite Brethren</a>, my denomination and the founding faith community of <a href="http://www.tabor.edu/">Tabor College</a>. While at the Conference, I attended a seminar led by the Executive Director of the <a href="http://www.mwc-cmm.org/">Mennonite World Conference</a>- Cesar Garcia. The session shared about the interconnectedness of Mennonites around the world. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As he spoke about the global contribution of each country, one of my fellow session participants told a story from his experience. While in Africa, one of his hosts used the phrase, “Don’t weigh my chicken” implying that a gift, no matter how small should be received with gratefulness and thanksgiving. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m currently reading through the Bible in a year using one of the many pre-set guides, and my reading this week was about Hezekiah’s restoration of the Temple. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Chron+31&version=NLT">2 Chronicles 31</a> tells the story of the people of Judah bringing their gifts to the newly restored temple. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In verse 3 Hezekiah, the king, brings contributions which are listed and are what one would expect from a king: varied and numerous (see also 30:24). Verse 5 continues the story with the “regular people” </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When the people of Israel heard these requirements, they responded generously by bringing the first share of their grain, new wine, olive oil, honey, and all the produce of their fields. They brought a large quantity—a tithe of all they produced. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It seems that people brought what they could, and it added up fast! The story goes on to state: ...</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and they piled them up in great heaps. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">7 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They began piling them up in late spring, and the heaps continued to grow until early autumn. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When Hezekiah and his officials came and saw these huge piles, they thanked the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lord</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and his people Israel!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I thought about this story and the story of the chicken and was reminded of a meal I shared with a community of Mennonite Brethren in the mountains of Colombia, miles from any city. I was with a group of North American’s who were hosted for lunch by a small village. As the plates of food were brought out we asked, “Where did all this food come from?” and were told, “We each brought something and put it all together.” And what they put together was an amazing feast. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Don’t weigh my chicken.” What gift do you and I have that could be used to contribute to God’s Kingdom? May we be people who don’t worry about the size, rather we rejoice that when our gifts are combined with others, just like Hezekiah’s people, it creates a huge pile. </span></div>
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<br />drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-51718127148846291722014-05-05T03:50:00.001-07:002014-05-05T03:50:24.032-07:00Reflections on Tabor e-Lab<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl1FS3BzI0iTSEVmRo0MmPTSjK14DtpEELiZP_LoAkjVRD3O7tPOl_cuxCaAgvyzq1x4y74Y-MzkxqdOsRJCkWMF4TGvKrJlgmcNyNnSjeTuTIUCL-w0Umz-zTB3925IeB7ssQlA/s1600/Photo+e-Lab+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl1FS3BzI0iTSEVmRo0MmPTSjK14DtpEELiZP_LoAkjVRD3O7tPOl_cuxCaAgvyzq1x4y74Y-MzkxqdOsRJCkWMF4TGvKrJlgmcNyNnSjeTuTIUCL-w0Umz-zTB3925IeB7ssQlA/s1600/Photo+e-Lab+2.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“How was the e-Lab event last week?” The questioner looked at me intently, wondering how I would respond. I think I confused him with my reply, because at that moment “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>I heard it was good</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,” was about all I could say. </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-f0d8de99-c7bf-aed9-e7c4-3500c1559f03" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why would I, the facilitator and planner of this event give an answer like this? Because, as I've learned by planning and running numerous big events over the years, when I’m in charge I’m unable to fully participate in the spirit and flow of the event. Maybe I'm unique and other event planners/organizers can be more present in the sessions, but I’ve found that my mind is too focused on what’s coming next to really engage as I would if I was just attending. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since the event happened just over a week ago, I now have a different answer to the question. I'm very pleased with the day and I know it was a valuable contribution to the Wichita community. I’ve read over the evaluations, I’ve spoken to participants, and I participated in a panel discussion in the Tabor College chapel where I heard from students the impact of the event. The overall message I’m hearing is very positive, often capped with, “When are you doing it again?”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What was e-Lab? The quick answer is a day-long event with a wonderful mix of speakers, music, drama, and art. The event was filmed for later playback and was live tweeted throughout the day. However, for a complete picture, more info is needed. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I was hired at Tabor College, I was tasked with creating an online MA degree in <a href="http://online.tabor.edu/online-degrees/eml/">Entrepreneurial Ministry Leadership</a>. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I worked for a year writing the proposal, courses, outcomes and program and I’m excited to say the program will start with it’s first cohort in the fall (there is still room to apply if interested). As part of the course creation I was also asked to “make it free” a clear nod to the book by Chris Anderson - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Free-Future-Radical-Chris-Anderson-ebook/dp/B002DYJR4G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398978159&sr=8-1&keywords=free+the+future+of+a+radical+price">Free- The Future of a Radical Price</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I racked my brain through a year of MA program preparation trying to think of how a college could give away free courses when they don’t have the resources to offer MOOC’s. (I did find a way to give courses away, more on that coming in future blogs). However, one idea that lept to the front was to offer a TED-style event in the city of Wichita. I’m sure most readers of this blog have heard of <a href="http://www.ted.com/">TED </a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and have watched at least one of the talks online. I looked into sponsoring a TEDX-event in Wichita, but in my research I discovered TED leadership have decided not to allow any religious-themed events and that is what I wanted to do. So the decision was made by Tabor College to sponsor our own event. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">e-Lab emerged as an event focused around this central theme: “Conversations from the Intersection of Faith and Human Need.” Speakers came from a variety of expertise: church leadership, author, CEO, and mission director. They all had a common thread, they saw a need and filled a need within their sphere of influence. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As someone who has organized and run numerous camps and events over the years, the timing of e-Lab provides one unique benefit for helping me feel more connected to what happened on the day. Because we're in 2014 this event happened within the hyper-connected world of social media like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Through the technology of hashtags (<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23TaborELab&src=typd">#TaborELab</a>) I am now able to reenter the event through reading the tweets of those who were able to engage fully in the content. For me, it’s the next best thing to participating as a guest. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here are some of the tweets that jumped out at me. </span></div>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">
Amazing insights from amazing individuals at <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23TaborELab&src=hash">#TaborELab</a> today. Blessed to be there behind the scenes. Wisdom. Creativity. Courage.<a href="https://twitter.com/lensweet">@lensweet</a><br />
— Jeremy Johnson (@Jeremy_1COR3) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jeremy_1COR3/statuses/459549869565153281">April 25, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Families..when you gather around your table, eat together and tell your faith story. <a href="https://twitter.com/lensweet">@lensweet</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23TaborELab&src=hash">#TaborELab</a><br />
— Dave Buller (@davebuller) <a href="https://twitter.com/davebuller/statuses/459480854289326080">April 24, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">
Our story and identity is found when we find ourself in the Jesus story. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23wheredoIfindmyself&src=hash">#wheredoIfindmyself</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23soulseaching&src=hash">#soulseaching</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23TaborELab&src=hash">#TaborELab</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TaborCollege">@TaborCollege</a><br />
— Elizabeth Nesser (@bethh_nesser) <a href="https://twitter.com/bethh_nesser/statuses/459411302729805824">April 24, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">
Thank you <a href="https://twitter.com/usmbchurches">@usmbchurches</a> for making the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23TaborElab&src=hash">#TaborElab</a> event possible. <a href="https://twitter.com/lensweet">@lensweet</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/joeskillen">@joeskillen</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MonicaEpperson">@monicaepperson</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MBMission">@mbmission</a> Bill Vann<br />
— Brett Andrews (@drbrettandrews) <a href="https://twitter.com/drbrettandrews/statuses/459410242694938624">April 24, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">
The religious quest is hospitable to questions. Bring 'em on. Dialog about the story. <a href="https://twitter.com/lensweet">@lensweet</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23TaborELab&src=hash">#TaborELab</a><br />
— JulesGlanzer (@presglanzer) <a href="https://twitter.com/presglanzer/statuses/459406709229109248">April 24, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">
This culture has got to have a soundtrack, this culture is a story wrapped around an image without words. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23TaborELab&src=hash">#TaborELab</a><br />
— Tabor College (@TaborCollege) <a href="https://twitter.com/TaborCollege/statuses/459403045571264512">April 24, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">
Jesus is not our meal ticket. He is the bread of life. - Randy Friesen <a href="https://twitter.com/MBMission">@MBMission</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23TaborELab&src=hash">#TaborELab</a> <a href="http://t.co/oqu8nMBRGK">pic.twitter.com/oqu8nMBRGK</a><br />
— Kim Bontrager (@kimbontrager) <a href="https://twitter.com/kimbontrager/statuses/459399810110738432">April 24, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">
<a href="https://twitter.com/MonicaEpperson">@MonicaEpperson</a> saw a need and filled a need with her firm, The Child of Divorce <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23TaborElab&src=hash">#TaborElab</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/rbb2nd">@rbb2nd</a><br />
— Brett Andrews (@drbrettandrews) <a href="https://twitter.com/drbrettandrews/statuses/459363518932717568">April 24, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">
"The resurrection surely must have greater implications than how many people we can pack into a room 1 day a week." <a href="https://twitter.com/joeskillen19">@joeskillen19</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23TaborELab&src=hash">#TaborELab</a><br />
— Aaron James Coleman (@aaronjcoleman) April 24, 2014</blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">
There were many other informative tweets out there at <a a="" and="" are="" at="" check="" encourage="" great="" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23TaborELab&src=typd" i="" many="" more="" out="" readers="" them="" there="" to="" tweets="">#TaborELab</a> I encourage readers to check them out. Will we do this again? We'll see... </blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0Kansas 38.548165423046584 -105.4687513.211961423046585 -146.777344 63.884369423046579 -64.160156tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-43588667893081354252014-02-08T08:10:00.000-08:002014-02-08T08:10:43.472-08:00#Rhizo14 Question: Is Reading Making us Stupid?<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The question prompt for this weeks #rhizo14 course led me to reconsider ideas I had read (ironic) in the past. </span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-62f77d62-1226-0703-182f-3c4f9af38d0e" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In his book, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Hidden-Power-Electronic-Culture/dp/0310262747/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1391874034&sr=8-2&keywords=Shane+Hipps">The Hidden Power of Electronic Communication, </a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shane Hipps quotes this story shared by Socrates from Plato’s The Phaedrus: </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Socrates: “Now in those days the god Thamus was the king of the whole country of Egypt; and he dwelt in that great city of Upper Egypt which the Hellenes call Egyptian Thebes. To him came Theuth and showed his inventions, desiring that the other Egyptians might be allowed to have the benefit of them; he enumerated them, and Thamus enquired about their several uses, and praised some of them and censured others, as he approved or disapproved of them. It would take a long time to repeat all that Thamus said to Theuth in praise or blame of the various arts. </i></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><i><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></i></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>But when they came to letters, This, said Theuth, will make the Egyptians wiser and give them better memories; it is a specific both for the memory and for the wit. Thamus replied: O most ingenious Theuth, the parent or inventor of an art is not always the best judge of the utility or inutility of his own inventions to the users of them. And in this instance, you who are the father of letters, from a paternal love of your own children have been led to attribute to them a quality which they cannot have; for this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">In a similar vein, Historian and futurist <a href="http://www.leonardsweet.com/">Leonard Sweet </a>talks about the shift in our society from Gutenberg to Google, from a world of print to a world of images. </span><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So the question Dave asks in #rhizo14 this week is one that others have considered as well. It appears that like it or not, society is shifting away from print and embracing a more image-rich and connected culture. In fact, in Post-Modern Pilgrims, his book from 2000, Sweet proposes education that is EPIC: Experiential, Participatory, Image-Rich, and Connected (sounds very rhizomatic to me).</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So what are some of the implications more EPIC educational processes? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As instructors we need to consider how we engage students across a wide variety of platforms. Earlier this week the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.nmc.org/publications/2014-horizon-report-higher-ed?utm_campaign=buffer&utm_content=buffer7d751&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer">Horizon Report</a> came out. One of the Mid-range trends the study identified was a “Shift from Students as Consumers to Students as Creators.” This section goes on to discuss how educators can embrace students creating content through a variety of means: video, web, etc. Writing a standard term-paper was not on the list!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As an of an educator who “gets” this, I’ve been very impressed by <a href="http://www.amyburvall.com/">Amy Burvall</a>, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a teacher in Hawaii. As one can see from her site, Amy engages her students on a wide variety of levels and through a wide variety of mediums. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How can those of us in #rhizo14 leverage our connectedness to help each other do the same? </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21728131.post-91789072585549244832013-12-14T07:40:00.002-08:002013-12-14T07:40:58.124-08:00The Well-Played Life book review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaGkWEAWqx7LMoHG3HRqEA3k21hq7Jt7Blv7K-7ZqDZS3B_K-9QcptU8gc1b5GVjhj0XyUxRDuHALA7H98MzhlS783n-sCfFMBJKe7GX628MJ5d5P811zDNfwkEJuPkvbK_8W9oA/s1600/IMG_0440.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaGkWEAWqx7LMoHG3HRqEA3k21hq7Jt7Blv7K-7ZqDZS3B_K-9QcptU8gc1b5GVjhj0XyUxRDuHALA7H98MzhlS783n-sCfFMBJKe7GX628MJ5d5P811zDNfwkEJuPkvbK_8W9oA/s320/IMG_0440.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Prolific author Leonard Sweet has hit another one out of the park with his book, “The Well-Played Life.” I was sent an advanced copy by the author to read and review prior to the book’s release next year. </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid--ff88fb2-f1c2-2f35-9ae9-12ca1eaf24d8" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sweet’s strength is his ability to cause people to stop and rethink words, ideas, and concepts that have been held onto without processing. By giving us a “Wack On the Side of the Head” (see the book by Roger von Oech), Sweet takes “work,” a concept often accepted without conscious thought, and moves it into direct reflection. By taking the twin themes of work and play, Sweet gives readers a “wack” with The Well-Played Life. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The subtitle of this book is “Why pleasing God doesn’t have to be such hard work.” I was drawn in by the refreshing and life-affirming message. Having a strong work-ethic passed down from generations in my family I can struggle at times with seeing my relationship with God as making sure I work hard enough. The Well-Played Life reads like a breath of fresh air to me by statements like, “you don’t work a violin.” I came away more convinced like any relationship, walking with God isn’t something I “work at” but rather a joy to “play at”. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On every page I can see Sweet's goal for readers to deepen a personal walk and relationship with Jesus. From the start- where he encourages readers to evaluate their quality of life by their quality of play, to a larger call for a theology of play; Sweet encourages his readers to dive deeper into a walk with God that is beyond rules and work to one of rest and play. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sweet also finds space in this book to coin two new words, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Godplay</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Simplexity</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Godplay</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> refers to people who make the world better simply by being in it. Used throughout the book, Godplay is a challenge to those who call themselves followers of Jesus: are we willing to enter into a life of play with God? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Simplexity</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is the combination of “simplicity” and “complexity.” Sweet attributes this to systems theory and states, “The term </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">simplexity</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> derives from systems theory, where simplicity is complex, and complexity simple. The more complex a system becomes the more simple it’s platform must be.” (pg. 193) Comparing this to Godplayers he states, “In discipleship, the more the soul grows, and grows up in the knowledge of God, the more simple our faith becomes.” (pg. 193)</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the main section of the book Sweet identifies three “ages” of humanity and encourages reflection and growth in each age. These ages aren’t necessarily genealogical rather they can be thought of as stages of play that can happen at any actual age of life. For the remainder of this review I will define these three ages and provide a quote from the book for each. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The First Age is made up of “Novice Players” (0-30)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Obviously, we start as a beginner, and like one learning to play the violin, novices take time to learn the basics of their craft. Similarly, Godplayers spend time learning their call and following Jesus in his mission. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To summarize this section, “The prevalence of love signals the presence of play. When faith becomes all about </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">beliefs</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">works</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> instead of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">relationships,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> then what we’re really in love with is our own thoughts and opinions and doings- not an image of God, but an image of ourselves.” (pg. 43) </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Those in the Second Age are called “Real Players” (30-60) </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The major role for this section is participation, living and playing out the call and mission to which God has called. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Love is not work. Love is play… that requires a lot of practice. Now replace the word </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">love</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> with </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">God</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in that sentence (because God is Love- 1 John 4:8)... and there you have this book in a nutshell.” (pg. 150) </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Third Age is called “Master Player and Game Changer” (60-90+)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is the season of maturity, of fruit-bearing and legacy passing. This isn’t a time to sit in a rocking chair, but to continue with Godplay as a follower of Jesus. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“In a sense, Third-Age disciples are chaos chasers, because to trust the Holy Spirit is to expect anything and plan nothing. The Holy Spirit is anything but predictable.” (pg. 194) </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This book also includes a study guide which would make this easily accessible for small groups. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I found a lot of personal life and joy in this work and would encourage anyone to pick up a copy when it comes out in early 2014. </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>drrbb2ndhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00105106596653235583noreply@blogger.com0