Hello New You!

Last night in Core Community, we kicked off our "Soul Clinic" series which is focused on healing but also so much more. God's ultimate vision for us is not just to get us back to "normal" again but to take us far beyond that. The passage we focused on was in Judges 6, the story of Gideon, a farmer's son living in Israel during the time of the Midianite occupation. Verse 11 and following says that a angel came and sat down near Gideon and greeted him by say, "The Lord is with you, O mighty warrior!" Nothing in the story would lead us to believe that anything about Gideon was mighty or militant and yet the angel greets with the name "Mighty Warrior." Gideon was just as baffled as we are by the salutation and endeavors at that point to correct the angel is his obvious error.

But was the angel mistaken or was he just privy to things about Gideon that even Gideon was not yet aware of? Gideon does go on to defeat the Midianites and save Israel in quite a "might warrior-ish" way. So it would seem that Gideon was the one mistaken in the first place.

As we think about God's vision for our lives we should have a similar sneaking suspicion that God may know things about our true identity and potential that we are not yet aware of. If God came to us today with a new name, a name that spoke to our destiny in this life, would we balk like Gideon did, like Abraham did, like Moses, Mary, and so many others did? Or would we take in good confidence that God is seeing us not only as who we are but also as the person we're becoming?

Today you may doubt how extraordinary you are but God doesn't. I believe that, for many Christ followers, God has already laid a vision on your heart of what your life should be about. For those that haven't received that from God, Christian or not-yet-Christian, he is faithful to provide that if you pursue him and listen. My prayer for you today is that you have the wisdom the hear God's calling on your life, his vision for who you are, and that you would have the courage to pursue that new identity.

Greetings, extraordinary person! The world is waiting for you.

Slackers of the world UNITE!

It's fascinating to see how the world's philosophy of "more is better" is collapsing upon itself in so many different arenas at once. One huge example is definitely the workplace. Conventional wisdom would say that a person that works 80 hours a week or works on two projects is twice as productive and valuable as a person that works 40 hours a week on one project - maybe but maybe not. Check out this article I found on workplace productivity and creativity, its pretty good. Of course, I say that overwork affects more than just our creativity but that's another blog ;-) Enjoy!

Big UP to peps that link to me!

You know, in blog-land there's no greater honor than to be "linked to" by someone else's blog. These days, I actually owe a chunk of the hits to my blog to Eric Young (like a quarter of my hits) and Chris Poch as well. This blog is just to tell ya how much I love ya! One of these days, I promise I'll put up a "Friends' blogs" section on my page but this will have to suffice as gratitude in the meantime...

Blog's back up!

Silly blog wasn't working for a day or so there, it just came up blank. I had to republish my blog and then do a shift-refresh to get it to show up again. Of course, I haven't been posting much for the last month or two so it wouldn't have made much of a difference that it wasn't working! Well, many of the reasons that I haven't been posting lately have been resolved so I expect to start posting more frequently again.

The real story of Saint Patrick

Ah, four leaf clovers and pints of green beer. St. Patrick's Day is really a fun holiday to celebrate. But beyond knowing that we should where green today (which I didn't) many people really have no clue who Saint Patrick is and why we celebrate his life. Here's a real brief history:

His name was Patricius, a young Roman citizen living in Britain with his family back in the 5th century. At the age of 16, Patricius' town was attacked by Irish raiders and he was carried to Ireland as a slave. His master was a druidic high priest who taught him the celtic language and the customs of the druids. Though lukewarm in his faith as a child, Patricius' faith grew deeply during this trying time. At the age of 22, he escaped his master and joined a monistary in France adopting the name Patrick. Twelve years later, God issued Patrick a strong call to go back to Ireland to preach the Gospel to the people that had enslaved him. Stories of Patrick's ministry work in Irleland is legendary even to this day. Among other things, many powerful Celtic prayers are credited to him including one of my favorites, Saint Patrick's breastplate:

I rise today
In power’s strength, invoking the Trinity,
Believing in threeness,
Confessing the oneness,
Of creation’s Creator

I rise today
In the power of Christ’s birth and baptism,
In the power of his crucifixion and burial,
In the power of his rising and ascending,
In the power of his descending and judging.

I rise today
In the power of the love of cherubim,
In the obedience of angels
And service of archangels,
In hope of rising to receive the reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In the predictions of prophets,
In the preaching of apostles,
In the faith of confessors,
In the innocence of holy virgins,
In the deeds of the righteous.

I rise today
In heaven’s might
In sun’s brightness
In moon’s radiance
In fire’s glory
In lightning’s quickness
In wind’s swiftness
In sea’s depth,
In earth’s stability,
In rock’s fixity.

I rise today
With the power of God to pilot me,
God’s strength to sustain me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look ahead for me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to protect me,
God’s way before me,
God’s shield to defend me,
God’s host to deliver me:
From snares of devils,
From evil temptations,
From nature’s failings,
From all who wish to harm me,
Far or hear,
Alone and in a crowd.

Around me I gather today all these powers
against every cruel and merciless force
to attack my body and soul,
against the charms of false prophets,
the black laws of paganism,
the false laws of heretics,
the deceptions of idolatry,
against spells cast by women, smiths and druids,
and all unlawful knowledge
that harms the body and soul.

May Christ protect me today
Against poison and burning,
Against drowning and wounding,
So that I may have abundant reward;
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me;
Christ to right of me, Christ to left of me;
Christ in my lying, Christ in my sitting, Christ in my rising;
Christ in the heart of all who think of me,
Christ in the tongue of all who speak to me,
Christ in the eye of all who see me,
Christ in the ear of all who hear me.

I rise today
In power’s strength, invoking the Trinity,
Believing in threeness,
Confessing the oneness,
Of creation’s Creator.

For more of Patrick's story, I recommend reading The Celtic Way of Evangelism. It's a fascinating book and an easy read.

Now that you are sufficiently informed on the true meaning of St. Patrick's day you can feel free to celebrate with some green beer!!! Here's a tip: you're not drunk until you have to hold onto the grass to keep from falling off the Earth. :-)

It is finished

Today is a really special day for me.

Today a very tough season of my life comes to an end - God has again provided in an amazing way. As I look back on this trial, I'm left with a lot of different thoughts. I don't blame God for this trial, although I've been tempted to many time over the past several months. I wonder what I could have done differently that could have shortened this trial or made it go away altogether. I wonder if I should have been stronger, wiser, or prayed more. But then I realize that is neither here nor there. Perhaps in the same situation years from now I would have fared much better. Being stronger and wiser, I would have known exactly what to do and how to handle myself. But, again, that thought has very little value to me right now. The point is that a trial is a trial because it was tough for me where I was at right now. I can't be down on myself about what I might have done differently. But, going forward, I do pray to God that I've learned something that will help me in other situations I may face. Perhaps some time in the future I will be in a very similar situation and will know better what to do - but only God knows the balance of my story.

Lastly, I've been haunted by what other people thought of me through this trial. Where they disappointed, where they suprised that I didn't handle myself better though it? I don't know. I probably will never know. But, in the end, it doesn't really matter. Throughout this season, I've asked God to guide my actions and help me to honor him always. In the end, if God is pleased with how I handled myself through this time then I'm more than satisfied with that.

Praise God for navigating me through yet another stretch of troubled waters. Today is my victory dance. :-)