I’ve been reading and thinking a lot this evening so I decided it was break time.
*****************************************************************
I just finished Brian Zahnd’s book: Beauty Will Save The World.
After an understanding of the beauty of the life and death of Jesus…I agree with him. Read the book.
Peace
Jim
Just some pictures from life these last few days…
Just finished this replica Windsor Chair.
All too often Christianity is offered as a thing to be had instead of a way of life. But as Brian Zahnd reminds us:
“Salvation is not a one-night stand. Salvation is not a ticket to heaven. Salvation is not a sinner’s prayer prayed once upon a time. Salvation is what happens as the story of Jesus intersects and becomes enfolded into our own story. Salvation is what continues to happen as we live our lives out of the ongoing astonishment of the gospel story.”
When we see Christianity as a place holder – something to hold our position in God’s eye - we fail to see our faith as an ongoing way of life…and we falsely see ourselves basking under God’s smile while Jesus is ahead of us calling back, “Take your eyes of yourself and Follow me.”
Peace
Jim
Religiously speaking, why do we believe what we believe, and what do we expect of God. We generally believe, it seems, through our experience and/or our interaction.
As Christians we invite God into our lives like we think we should but then what do we expect? What we expect seems to be determined by what we have been taught, or what we think God can do For us. Both of those can be good reasons to invite God in. But further study shows both of those reasons to be only beginning points.
It seems that when God takes us at our word when we say that we want him…God begins to make changes in us, begins to renovate us as God’s own dwelling place. That can be scary sometimes.
In a nutshell, we invite God in, God comes in and begins to show us how he wants to work through us…God might want to work through us in ways we understand, but God might also want to work through us in ways that frighten us. We either roll our sleeves up and go to work or we complain that we don’t have what it takes and we’re afraid.
Understanding why we believe what we believe helps us understand God’s motives. We may very well still be afraid, but we don’t back off thinking that somebody else could do it better. As Francis Chang wrote:
“It is important that we not measure our spiritual health by the people around us, who are pretty much like us.”
Peace
Jim
Dear daughter number four (Monna) wanted a cheese press. I didn’t know cheese presses were so expensive ! So we decided to make one. It was a good Me, JC, and Jedidiah project for a Saturday morning.
Jedidiah helped carry stuff at Lowes.
All oak, stainless steel screws. Ready to make some cheese. 
And Millie slept through the whole thing…
Jim
Enough said…
Jim
Doing a little picture editing…will post some afterwhile.
Have a good day.
Jim
I have a difficult time getting out of my mind the need for relationships with people for the purpose of bringing the beauty of Jesus’ life into their lives. All it takes is a quick read across social media to see that there are so many minds that are troubled and not seeing that beauty.
So the charge before us is to begin (or continue) to be the bright spot in somebody’s life. We are to lighten troubled minds…not feed them.
Peace
Jim
Our dog Pepper went nuts last night about 3:30 or so. She barked and whimpered until I let her sleep at the foot of the bed. Never did figure out what was wrong with her.
This morning when I read the news I noticed that there was a 4.0 earthquake in Missouri last night that was felt in Tennessee and Kentucky; it happened at 3:58. I’ve heard of such a thing that animals give warnings to earthquakes so I’m wondering if that is what set the dog off last night…
*******************************************************
On another note…
Lent begins with the observance of Ash Wednesday tomorrow. How do we prepare for that? Many do not observe the Christian calendar and that’s O.K. if they don’t. But for those who do it gives some structure to our Christian life and helps us focus on the influence of Jesus in our world.
Ash Wednesday helps us focus on repentance, not that we’re bad people, (remember that God created us male and female in God’s image and called that creation good) but all of us have reason to seek forgiveness from God and often each other. And since humility seems to be a building block to our character, asking for forgiveness can set that tone.
Peace
Jim
How do we as Christians see the Gospel story? Is it something that we read and know at least in part through memory…or is it a profound mystery?
When the Gospel was lived by Jesus, people looking on were amazed; they were downright astonished to use words more wisely.
“…over the centuries the Gospel story has become so common place that we have put it on the shelf, been there read that…and the heart-wrenching message fades into a label called Christian and faith lives largely on the edges of life…often just out of reach when we need it.”
But every now and then someone has an experience that they cannot explain without using the words awe, excitement! and mystery. We usually think that happens to people who don’t claim to know Jesus, but more often than not it is people who have previously claimed to follow Jesus who have these experiences.
And when that happens we can put away any previous ideas about what has to happen to experience Jesus, we can stop thinking about how Christians are supposed to act…and live something of the awe that first century people lived as they came to trust – and sometimes not understand – this one called Jesus.
The Gospel story is about life. Not who or what is acceptable and who is not. We can argue that all day long but when we lose that life concept of Jesus’ message we are in danger of missing the message altogether.
Something to think about…
Jim
