Moving Shadow Dance

One must not have a heart if this does not move you.

Life is Better For The Imagination Than Books!

I think this is powerfully so. We praise the goodness of the mighty book, but in 1969 this Peace Corps worker made an interesting statement. Life IS better than books.

"During my first year in Rio Verde (Ecuador) I think I read only two books; life was so full, so emotionally stirring, that reading seemed like a gray and tawdry substitute for all that surging life around me." (Moritz Thomsen. Living Poor.)

Proposition or Proposal?

I prefer proposals.....  they are much more romantic......

"....... Christianity wasn't founded on a statement or even a rational argument. God didn't send Jesus to deliver a proposition. God sent Jesus to deliver a proposal: "Will you love me? Will you let me love you?" In fact, Jesus not only got on his knees to deliver this proposal, Jesus was nailed to a cross to deliver God's proposal." (What a matters Most. Leonard Sweet. Pg 21)

Is Christianity (Our Christianity) Coming True?

"Elie Wiesel has said, "Christianity did not come true during Auschwitz." More than 20 percent of the German SS officers, the
expert killers, were professing Christians. This is a disturbing nightmare, a religion that is so impotent and so removed from relationship that it could not "come true" when millions of Jews were being incinerated. Jesus gave us a relationship test whereby we can know whether faith "comes true." The test, according to Jesus, is that his disciples are known not by how well they defend orthodox propositions, but by how well they "love one another." (What Matters Most. Leonard Sweet. Pg, 21)

Judged by How We........

And should we not be judged by how we love God and people? It's what Jesus said these two are the greatest things of all. Forgives us; forgive me, for making it about intimately, bismally, about insignificantly trivial pursuits, visions, plans and small dreams.

"The worst thing you can do to Christianity is to turn it into a philosophical endeavor. Faith is more than beliefs to be learned; it is bonds (relational) to be lived. Faith is more than holding the 'right' beliefs; it is holding the 'right' hands. We are judged by the world not on the basis of how 'right' we've gotten what we believe but on how well we're living it - on how we love God and people." (Leonard Sweet. What Matters Most.)

Good Leadership Is Not Managing Events?

"I don't think good leadership are people who manage  events or meetings, or entertain people with their gifts of oratory. Good leadership are brothers and sisters who are on a journey of transformation, can sit down with younger brothers and sisters and help them know the  God they know. That to me is good leadership." (Wayne Jacobsen. The God Journey Podcast. June 14, 2013)

Bono on Jesus

"Religion can be the enemy of God. It’s often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building. [laughs] A list of instructions where there was once conviction; dogma where once people just did it; a congregation led by a man where once they were led by the Holy Spirit. Discipline replacing discipleship." (Bono)

Writing is Easy?

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
- Ernest Hemingway

There Is Enough Food

"There is enough food for everyone, but not everyone has enough food, says the Enough Food for Everyone If campaign."

No More Messages......

"I have reached an age where my main purpose is not to receive messages." (Umberto Eco)

I think I am getting there too. I don't want to be the center of anything. I don't want attention, approval, a pat on the back. I just want to be invisible in the processes of life.  I'm not trying to leave a mark, rather, I'm simply trying to be better with, and too, people. Nothing more.... nothing less.

If You Love A Girl, You chase her down.

More of Jesus and less of stuff, and management, and vision statements, and controlling, corralling, and manipulating the people of God. Why don't people serve, share their faith, love others, lack generosity and hospitality? Because their leadership needs better policies, procedures, plans, and programs to herd these mindless sheep into activity? 

No! The issue us a lack of love. When you love a girl, you chase her, and it's obvious. Same with Jesus. Want to fix the church. Tell them to find Jesus, really find Jesus, and kindness in word and deed will flow from them, without the "plan".

This is a powerful quote.

"Neither of us could get beyond Colossians chapter 1.… Let me give you some background to this text. The church in Colosse is about four years old. And they have accepted a false teaching. Scholars have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the Colossian heresy was. One of the reasons why there's so much debate about it is because Paul never defines it, and he never addresses it directly.

Now all church leaders should listen.
Paul's primary way of dealing with a church problem is to give God's people a stunning unveiling of Jesus Christ.
For Paul, Jesus Christ is the solution to all problems. And any problem that a believer or a church has can be juiced down to one common denominator: They have lost sight of Christ. Or to put it in Paul's words, they stopped "holding fast to the Head" (Col. 2:19, KJV).

West Africa Is Unique.

"To be sure, Africa is not homogenous,
and there exist great variations in her
faiths and customs. At the same time, a
commonality in thought and observances
persists throughout West Africa, especially among the Mande-populated countries of Mali, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and parts of Liberia, Mauritania, and Sierra Leone. (The Way Of The Elders. Adam & Naomi Doumbia)

Distant Voices To a Different Path

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." (Henry David Thoreau)

Who's Laughing At God......??

"No one laughs at God in a hospital.
No one laughs at God in a war.
No one's laughing at God When they're starving or freezing or so very poor.
No one laughs at God When the doctor calls after some routine tests.
No one's laughing at God When it's gotten real late and their kid's not back from the party yet.
No one laughs at God When their airplane starts to uncontrollably shake.
No one's laughing at God When they see the one they love hand in hand with someone else And they hope that they're mistaken"

Never Able To Resume "Normal" Life, After Living In Rural Africa

"I lived in Africa almost half a lifetime ago. I was very young when I went, not just in years, and I return home feeling prematurely aged. For months after coming back, like the ancient mariner with his gray beard and glittering eyes, I cornered anyone half willing to listen and try to describe what I had seen and done and been over there. I would tell the story......and the sympathetic nods would last about 5 min. before my quarry's eyes shifted toward the exit......the experience proved as incommunicable as the need to explain was urgent.
Family and friends waited for me to resume normal life, but I seemed unable to complete the trip back. Part of me remains stuck in Africa,..... I missed the intensity, the surprise, the sense that life was real and hard and lovely. Nothing in America made me feel as alive as I felt in Africa..... And yet I can't shake the sense of having left behind Africa and obligations I can neither fulfill nor escape...... The book was supposed to provide a resolution, but in some fundamental way my time in Africa remains unresolved. And, of course, African itself is unresolved,....."
( The Village Of Waiting. George Packer. Farrar, Strauss, & Giroux, 2001, pg 317-318)

Women in Missions- Examples of Invaluable Contributions! Suck it up Men?

"Overall, probably two-thirds of the missions force has been, and currently is, female. Many mission executives agree that the more difficult and dangerous the work, the more likely women are to volunteer to do it! David Yonggi Cho concludes from his experience that women are the best choice for difficult, pioneering work. “We have found that in these situations, women will never give up. Men are good for building up the work, but women are best for persevering when men get discouraged” (p271)

(Example Illustration)

"After the last road ended, it was a two-day hike to where the Balangao people lived. The Balangao, a tribe of former headhunters, still sacrificed to powerful and demanding spirits who caused sickness, death and constant turmoil. Two single women missionaries, trained in Bible translation, were on their way to work among them.
When they arrived, they were greeted by men wearing G-strings and women wrapped in cloth from homemade looms. It is hard to say who was more amazed. The Balangao had asked for Americans to come live with them and write their language, but they never dreamed the Americans would be women!

An old man offered to be their father and was faithful in looking after them. Besides the work of translation, these women began giving medical assistance, learning about the spirit world, and answering questions about life and death. One of them, Jo Shetler, stayed for 20 years, winning her way into the hearts and lives of these people and completing the New Testament translation. Because of this dedication, thousands now know Jesus as Lord of the Balangao.
Jo Shetler, a shy farm girl with a dream, has stirred many with her story. However, stories remain unwritten of multitudes of women who likewise obeyed the call of God to serve Him on the far horizons. Many women do not realize how greatly God can use their giftedness and commitment in situations such as this.” (p 269)

("Women In Mission” , Marguerite Kraft & Meg Crossman. "Perspectives on the world Christian Movement", 1999, William Carey Library, Pasadena California . Pg 269, 271)

Settlers Often Oppose Pioneers

Should we stick around? Settlers are always opposed to the pioneers, and think them wreckless and irresponsible with their head in the sky. Kingdom wise, I think pioneers are still required.

"Spaniards......And all along the coast Indians came out against them, shouting and calling that they were "banished men." They taunted them with the hair on their faces, saying that they were the scum of the sea, and that they could have no other ancestry since the sea had thrown them up. "Why do you wander the world," they cried. " You must be idle vagabonds since you stay nowhere to work and sow the earth."

(Agustin de Zarate. The Discovery and Conquest of Peru.)

Faith is a Relationship.

"The Bible does not cast faith as a spiritual footpath to heaven or an inner stirring that we try to rev up when the chips are down. Neither does Scripture describe faith as a cognitive capacity that God activates to effect our justification. Rather, faith is consistently defined in Scripture, at base, as a set of trust relationships — with God, with neighbor, with the world, with creation."

(Leonard Sweet. What Matters Most. Pg 14)

Life thinks Our To Do List Sucks!

How true

"Life doesn't give a fat turd about my to-do list." (Jamie Wright. Jamie The Very Worst Missionary Blog)

Lifedoesn't give a fat turd about my to-do list. It just piles stuff on,all willy-nilly, without an ounce of consideration for my lack ofcapacity to get stuff done.

Outsiders Should Care About Our Churches Inner Family Fueds?

Well if the issues, doctrinal or otherwise, are worth fighting about after we are in, we may as well tell them as gospel to other who are outside, so they get into the right church, the truer church, the real bible church. ;-)

"... use of reformation language delivers more questions than answers. A reformational paradigm implies reform, but of what? For five hundred years we've struggled with reformational questions: What are the marks of a true church? How do we make a pure church, or a restructured church? A reformational paradigm is inward looking, revolving around the word come. Such a paradigm suggests that outsiders should be concerned about the family feuds within the household of faith. Besides, if we can't get the Reformation 'issues' right after half a millennium of trying, then having another go at it coining new reference reformational terms and lists and requirements won't help things now."

(What Matters Most. Leonard Sweet. Pg 8)

Is Christianity About Not Cussing?

The God of the universe—the creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies and e-minor—loves us with a radical, unconditional, self-sacrificing love. And what is our typical response? We go to church, sing songs, and try not to cuss."

--Francis Chan

No One Goes Through Life Unscathed!

"No one goes through life unscathed. Sooner or later someone you trust will betray you, a business deal will go south leaving you in a financial crisis, illness strikes or someone you love dies. Make peace with your pain.When you have been wounded it is critical to turn your pain into an ally. Embrace it and learn from it. Remember God has a long history of turning life's tragedies into
opportunities for personal growth and development." 
(Richard Exley)

Second Coming Of What?

"We talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard of the first." Oswald J. Smith

Nature Has Become a Shallow Relationship

I loved playing outside as a kid.... and my kids did too. Their friends would comment on that every time they came over. "We like coming to your house, because we do fun things outside and in the woods. We never play outside at home.".... It's kind of sad to have boy out of tune with nature and dirt.

"Due to modern-day preoccupation with general busyness, indoor technology-based entertainment, and the taming of nature for our convenience, there is less and less common knowledge of the natural world. Nature is paved over and built on, and is finding its way farther and farther from our everyday lives. And where it remains, nature is becoming a distant place of postcards and vacations instead of being a comforting friend with whom to commune and interact. Nature has become a shallow relationship."
(Edible Wild Plants: Wild Foods From Dirt To Plate. John Kallas. Pg 27)

Saving Yourself?

"The church may clutch Jesus to its side, but it no longer clutches Jesus to its insides. For the Jews, the unique place where God encountered humans was the temple and (before that) the tent or tabernacle. For Jesus, the unique place where God encounters humans is the human heart. But the church has embalmed Jesus in rules, codes, canonicities, and traditions that have everything to do with the church's saving itself and nothing to do with the church's saving the world." (What Matters Most. Leonard Sweet, pg, 5)

Play.... Learning to Play Again....

"..baiting the serpent and battling each other, rather than being the people who like to play in the garden." (Theologian John Baker-Bastel)

Relationship: People Are Losing The Art of Living With One Another.

How true it is, and why people like myself have stopped playing the artificial pasted smiley games we once called "Fellowship" and are out looking for genuine people... where every we find them. And when we find them, we become a tribe, with a new song of our people. 

"The way to save the world is not through more rules to live by, but through right relationships to live for. People are fast loosing the art of being with one another.... They are detached from God, from others, and from creation. People are losing the art of living with one another. Relationship is the soul of the universe. And the soul is sick" (Leonard Sweet. What Matters Most, pg 1)