God, Family, and Good Books
Calling is revealed in service. A young, called guy so often wants to find a role right now that matches his gifts. But at this stage, the summons is not a warrant to flex your gifts; it’s an invitation to be a servant wherever you’re needed.
~ Dave Harvey, Am I Called
My son’s room is like a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Toppled block buildings and crayon-wrapper debris lay atop overturned die-cast cars and plastic little-people corpses. Blankets have tumbled to the floor like a California mud-slide. I don’t want to think about the refugees hastily rushed under the bed.
I’ve seen this before, in my own room, years ago. I can still hear my mom hollering at me to clean up my act. I can remember those times when she would look at me, exasperated, and say: “Someday, you’ll be grown up. You’re going to have a kid, and you’ll understand.”
Mom didn’t live long enough to see my kids, or to hear me apologize to her for all the grief I put her through. But she was right. I’m all grown up, and I’m beginning to understand.
The church is not a career path. It’s a place you go to give your life away. God’s people can’t be mere stepping stones to larger opportunities.
~ Dave Harvey, Am I Called?
Every Sunday, as I walk through the crowd at our church’s gathering, I’m often greeted with the same question: “How’s Jeff City going?” Late last year my family moved to the capital of Missouri and away from an awesome community of neighbors, friends, coworkers, and church-family. It was a huge transition for us–an unexpected move to an unexpected place. While we still make the drive to Columbia to worship with Karis Church once a week, increasing relational distance has been unavoidable.
Honestly, I feel a bit of angst when the question is asked. Though it’s been hard to watch fruitful relationships in Columbia whither, the choice to move was good for our family. I often answer the question with a knot in my stomach. I look into the eyes of someone I miss dearly and tell them how great it is to be away, and how we can’t wait until we begin worshiping on Sundays with our brothers and sisters in Jeff. Here are some of the reasons things are going so well.Continue Reading
Jesus didn’t give us his first drafts. He didn’t brainstorm in our presence or ramble on and on with unexamined chatter.
~ Zack Eswine, Sensing Jesus
On my desk there spins a block of glass, glowing blue, then green, then red. Inside the glass is the ghostly shape of a tree and words that you might find in a greeting card:
DAD
You are a
source of strength,
a teacher and a guide.
You are the one
that’s looked up to,
with loving trust
and pride.
It’s one of those sentimental, one-size-fits-all gifts that you find in the hallways of shopping malls in a kiosk next to Cell-Phone City and the Piercing Pagoda. It was a Christmas gift from my children, which means that it was a Christmas gift from my wife.
When I opened it, I was happy. Not because it was the gift I had secretly always wanted, but because of the look on my kids’ faces as I opened it. They were happy to see their daddy open his present, but were absolutely thrilled that they’d made it so long without letting slip what it would be.
My wife asked the question a bit hesitantly, “Do you like it?”Continue Reading
I have begun to harbor the pessimistic suspicion that I’ll likely die before I’ve learned how to truly do life as an ordinary Christian.
~ Zack Eswine, Sensing Jesus
March 23, 2014
Scripture: Colossians 1:24-27
Series: Jesus is Everything
Location: Karis Church
