March 2008

posted on March 30, 2008

I love it how the Scriptures continue to speak,
opening up new things to us all the time even after (in my case) thirty
years of reading the Bible.

I’ve spent a lot of time in the Gospel of John (its my favorite) and a
lot of time in chapter ten. For years I’ve used it to try and help
people understand that God’s offer to us is far more than forgiveness
(most Christians still think Christianity is pretty much forgiveness).
God’s offer is life. Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life,
and have it to the full” (John 10:10b). Anyhow, I was reading again in
John last week, and God showed me something new.

Jesus begins the chapter talking about false shepherds and...

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A Beautiful Story

posted on March 30, 2008

I just finished speaking in Orlando to a large
gathering of youth pastors. I was talking about hearing God. The
experience felt…a little weird. On one hand, I felt like I was speaking
on something way too simple and obvious to justify a keynote talk, like
telling them for forty-five minutes that they should drink water or get
regular sleep. It felt so basic, so painfully obvious (even though I
know they don’t practice this). On the other hand, at the very same
moment I also felt like I was making a case for something really
radical, really “out there,” like a fifth book of the Gospels. Thus the
weird experience. This is really obvious. This is really a stretch.

At the end of...

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God Used My Dog Today

posted on March 08, 2008

I get up first in our house. Oban, our seven month old golden retriever, gets up with me. Or usually, he’s been up for awhile and finally gets tired of waiting so he growls a few times to wake me up. Time to take a pee. I let him out, and he just takes off like a rocket through the bushes into the neighbors and beyond. I’m yelling for him to come back. I’m whistling. I’m growling at him. Yes, growling. We took this “Australian” dog training course that says dogs need a pack leader so when they’re doing something bad growl at ‘em and they’ll stop. I’m standing out here in my boxers, no dog in sight, growling loud, and I wonder what the neighbors think. Oban’s not stopping. He is gone.
And I’m pissed.

By the time he gets...

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When Things Don't Make Sense

posted on March 06, 2008

Its Friday. I’m on a United flight to Los Angeles, wedged between a guy
drawing cartoons on a yellow pad and a woman reading Ladies Home
Journal. I’m trying to get to Santa Barbara, and this whole trip feels
a little weird.

Stasi and I were really looking forward to the baptism of our dear
friends’ daughter in Colorado Springs this weekend. Not a time to skip
town. But last weekend I kept feeling this nudge, this “prompting” that
I should go and see Sam. (Our oldest son – he’s a freshman at Westmont
College in SB this year). You know what I mean about those nudges – you
just have a sense, call it intuition, or a thought you can’t seem to
shake. But it made no sense. Next...

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