Almost-Grown: How to Keep the Faith

Maybe your child is about to graduate. Or already away at college or on their own.

Or maybe you just want to get ready now for what’s to come later.

“Let the children come” (Matthew 19:14) isn’t just for your little ones.

Help your children of all ages continue coming to the Lord.

How can you assist their transition from pizza party youth groups to an authentic working faith of their own?

Not by old strategies. What worked at nine won’t work when they’re nineteen. You no longer choose their bedtime Bible stories. You can’t drag them to Sunday school each week. No more gold stars for Bible chapters read.

So what can you do to help your older children stay in the Word?

HERE ARE 8 GUIDELINES:

Read the rest here

* * *

What advice would you give parents of college-age children?

What’s a struggle you’re having or anticipating for that age?

What helped (or hindered!) your faith after you turned 18?

I’m writing at Do Not Depart today. Please join me there.

The safe life?

I did it again last week.

And again, it hurt. Bumping my thigh on the corner of our bed frame left me this week with a beautifully-colored bruise as proof, a mark quite noticeable.

This world is not a safe place.

God is “not a tame lion.”
     (Aren’t we forever grateful to Lewis for that image?)

God is not in me to shower me with the blessings of short lines at Walmart, pretty shoes that don’t hurt my feet, ne’er an experience with chill bumps or sweat drops.

I don’t live in a bubble, gifted with perfect protection here just because I believe in Jesus.

But what I get is better, even though I’m still having to grow into that realization.

What I get is better because what I get is what I need.

Larry Crabb sums it up well in The Pressure’s Off:

What then is our greatest need? We need . . .

       radical forgiveness that makes it possible for unholy people to come near to a holy God and live;

       supernatural love that empowers naturally selfish people to care more about someone else other than themselves, thus revealing God;

       spiritual might that actually changes bad people into good people, not good merely by society’s standards—we have plenty of folks like that—but good like God, good enough to value ultimate goodness.

In my world, I’m vulnerable.
To lust of the flesh, of the eyes, to pride of life.

But in his world, I’m safer than I think.
From condemnation, from loneliness, from meaninglessness. 

Nonetheless, I’ll still bruise up, get headaches (and heartaches), and waste time in long lines.

It’ll leave marks on me.

But to encounter God in the midst of it all?

That’s the good life.
The saved life.
The only life worth living.

* * *

What dangers have you encountered lately?

What’s a sign you’re living the good life anyway?

Sharing at #TellHisStory
Winsome Wednesday
Into the Word
One Word Linkup
Imperfect Prose

Whose world is real: Theirs or ours?

Buckaroo (not his real name) and I are engaged in a conversation about the government. It’s getting heated, not because we’re in opposition but because the subject gets him riled up.

I’m getting uncomfortable, thinking I best change the subject to something less volatile.

But then he says something that shakes me.

If the world as we know it ever comes to a halt, whether it be by our own government (Buckaroo’s presumption) or by outside forces, he says he knows who the survivors will be: his kind.

His people—the homeless—know how to survive.

I believe him. They prove it every day.

They are survivors. How else could they live day after day with the substandard food they eat, the poor sanitation they have, the diabetes and cancer and alcoholism and drug addictions and mental illnesses that many endure?

Some do die, of course. Many do die. And eventually all die, as we do.

But many live. And live long. They’re survivors.

Sometimes I’m not sure whose world is the real one: theirs or ours.

My world feels comfortably real on my smooth drive on the Parkway overpass, singing worship tunes from my USB stick, bottled water in my cup holder, a packed purse by my side.

But underneath that same overpass is their world, a different world. It houses tents, a fire for cooking and warming, and people with few possessions.

Their world feels brutally real as I stand among them Saturday morning and chat with Buckaroo.

After we drive back to our church building, back into the world as I know it, I close ranks with those like me and we hold hands and Norm words a prayer from all of us, for all of them—the survivors. Thanking God for the lessons those survivors teach us. If they can keep going on, so can we. 

I want Buckaroo and his friends—now my friends, too—on my side not if, but when, the worlds we both know ever come to an end.

Because they will come to an end.

So for now, I’ll take another step into Buckaroo’s world and pray it makes mine a little less plastic and a lot more authentic. That it makes his a little less lonely and a lot more loved.

That it blends both our worlds, making them less about us and more about God. After all, only God’s world is truly real, the only one that will last forever.

I want us both to be survivors in that one.

* * *

RELATED:

• Your grace looks different than mine
• When you don’t know what to say
• I’m still prejudiced

Sharing at Hear It on Sunday
Playdates with God
The Love Dare
Soli Deo Gloria

His last words are ours. Thank you, Dallas Willard.

You couldn’t read him lightly or quickly. His words took time to sink in. But, oh, they were worth it.

Even if you haven’t read Dallas Willard’s books yourself, you’ve likely been influenced by them through someone else who has.

His books have been some of my favorites: The Divine Conspiracy, Renovation of the Heart, The Spirit of the Disciplines, The Great Omission. I frequently discover some of my newer favorite authors were either mentored by Willard personally or indirectly through his writings.

Willard sent a clear and consistent message in all his writings:

• Our kingdom life has begun now.
• Be an active disciple of Jesus Christ.
• Deep soul transformation is possible, if pursued, because Christ is with us.

Dallas Willard died Wednesday after a short battle with cancer. His last words are reported to have been, “Thank you.”

How appropriate for us to echo those words back to him.

Thank you, Dallas Willard, for teaching us how to better love God and love others. May your words live on for God’s glory for many years to come.

QUOTES

A few favorite words I’ve recorded from Dallas Willard:

Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ

~ The greatest need you and I have—the greatest need of collective humanity—is renovation of our heart.

~ But this eternal kind of life is not a passive life. Passivity was for the Israelites, and it is for us one of the greatest dangers and difficulties of our spiritual existence.

~ “Knowledge” in biblical language never refers to what we today call “head knowledge,” but always to experiential involvement with what is known—to actual engagement with it.

~ The way to get as many people into heaven as you can is to get heaven into as many people as you can.

The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

~ Human life cannot flourish as God intended it to . . . if we see ourselves as “on our own”—and especially if we struggle to preserve ourselves that way.

~ The disciplines are activities of mind and body purposefully undertaken, to bring our personality and total being into effective cooperation with the divine order.

The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship

~ Much of our problem is not, as is often said, that we have failed to get what is in our head down in our heart. Much of what hinders us is that we have had a lot of mistaken theology in our head and it has gotten down into our heart. And it is controlling our inner dynamics so that the head and heart cannot, even with the aid of the Word and the Spirit, pull one another straight.

~ Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action.

~ We have emphasized trying but not training . . . . We have lost discipleship largely because we have lost Christ as Teacher.

~ Any time ritual and compassion (for example, for hunger) come into conflict, God, who gave the law, favors compassion. That is the kind of God He is.

The Divine Conspiracy (see here)

* * *
Do you have a favorite book by Dallas Willard?

Sharing at Spiritual Sundays

Write back

Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.
Isaiah 65:24

THE EMAIL

It felt risky. I wasn’t sure I should say it. I wondered if it would change things, make things weird.

I wordsmithed it cautiously, copied it to Gmail, and hit send.

Then waited.
For something.
For anything.
Anytime now.
Please?

You, too? Waiting to hear back from someone about something?

NO RESPONSE

Let’s get this out of the way: I’m not always good about responding either.

But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t be better. Or that you couldn’t be either.

We all should write back.

(Or text or message or call or visit . . . .)

Because we all know what it feels like when someone doesn’t get back to us.

It hurts.

• When you make yourself vulnerable but are left hanging, you question if you said too much.
• When you throw out a tiny bait but get no bite at all, you wonder who cares.  
• When you ask a question but get no answer, you feel insulted.  

At the very least, you feel unheard. Did they even get my message? Maybe my email bounced? Was my voicemail deleted?

NOW WHAT

So what can we do when someone doesn’t respond to us? Not much. We can’t make someone pay attention. Try again if it’s important. Or forgive and move on.

But we can control how we respond to others. 

Be the one to reach back.

You might not heal the hurt or dispense wisdom or fix any problems with your reply.  But when you affirm that you hear, you stay connected.

• When someone sends you a note, acknowledge its receipt.
• When someone asks a question, give an answer (“I don’t know” is acceptable; so is, “I’ll answer later.”) 
• When someone says, “I need help,” say that you care (if you do), even if you don’t know what to do next.

Because any acknowledgement, however short, is a better message than the one sent with no response.

So say something. 
Hey, I hear you. I care. You matter.

Write back.

* * * 

Who do you need to respond to today?

It’s not too late. It can be short, but let it be something.

Just so you know, I’m not waiting on any responses at the moment. You’re not in trouble with me. {smile}

Sharing at Winsome Wednesday
#TellHisStory
Into the Word Wednesday
Imperfect Prose

Are you a Pharisee?

Arrogance is the ultimate blind spot.

. . . I’ve noticed something strange about this sin that God hates most. It’s usually found among people who think they love God most.

Spiritual arrogance is not a back-of-the-line sin; it’s a front-of-the-line sin.
LARRY OSBORNE, Accidental Pharisees

No one wants to be called a Pharisee. It’s a label for holier-than-thou’s, for hypocrites, for legalists. (But do be aware of its fuller meaning.)

So while we don’t intentionally set out to be a Pharisee, how can we avoid becoming one?

Here are 6 pitfalls found in Larry Osborne’s book Accidental Pharisees. Look for what applies to YOU (not someone else you know). 

1. Pride
When comparison becomes arrogance

Do you have a personal list of “Thank God I’m not like them!”? Do you think your interpretations are the most accurate ones? Do you get frustrated with those who don’t know as much as you know? Do you brag about your church for something other than Jesus?

As valuable as biblical knowledge is, I think it should come with a warning label. The fact is, the more we know, the more we’re tempted to look down on people who don’t know what we know.

. . . When we use the Bible as a prop, every issue and doctrinal disagreement becomes a flash point, an opportunity to show off our superior knowledge and understanding, a way to set us apart.

We forget that the entrance exam to heaven is a blood test, not a Scantron.

We forget that pride and a lack of love nullifies our knowledge, even if it’s a full and complete understanding of all the mysteries in the Bible.

2. Exclusivity
When thinning the herd becomes more important than expanding the kingdom

Do you think the bar of Christianity needs to be raised to keep the riffraff out?  Have you ever used the NIMBY rationale to keep people out (not in MY back yard!)?

While Jesus did draw some lines in the sand, he magnificently broadened the circle to include those once left out.

Jesus didn’t come to thin the herd. He didn’t come to recruit “special ops” Christians.

His goal was to expand the kingdom, to bring salvation to people who previously were excluded. He came to seek and find the lost, including a large group of folks no one else wanted to invite to the party.

Everything about Jesus’ ministry was designed to make salvation and the knowledge of God more accessible. It started with his incarnation.

3. Legalism
When sacrifice crowds out mercy

Do you have a litmus test to be passed for inclusion into your church? Afraid to preach too much grace for fear of it being abused? Destroy others’ freedom by your personal restrictions?

I remember once asking my pastor why we had so many extra fences that weren’t in the Bible. He told me they were for our safety. Apparently, God’s fences weren’t good enough. So we added some extra ones to help him out.

. . . One thing that makes legalism so dangerous is that it always flows out of the best of intentions. Legalists never see themselves as legalists. They see themselves as obedient. They never think of their extrabiblical rules as extrabiblical. They consider them to be profoundly biblical, the careful application of all that the Bible implies.

. . . If we’ve meticulously researched an issue, thought deeply about it, prayed about it, and believe God has revealed something to us, most of us assume that everyone else who is led of the Spirit and intellectually honest with the text will come to the same conclusion. We can’t imagine God being pleased with two opposing applications of one Scripture. Yet as shocking as it may be to some of us, one Scripture can have two opposing applications.

4. Idolizing the past
When idealism distorts reality

Do you idolize the New Testament church (or your church’s past) as the good old days? Think sins today are worse than in times past? Decided “the way it’s always been done” is always good enough?

Look to the past to learn from it and gain perspective, but not to romanticize it nor to be angry about it.

God has always drawn straight lines with crooked sticks. Abraham was a liar, Moses a murderer, David an adulterer, and Peter a denier.

But a strange thing happens with the passage of time.

The farther removed we get from the stick, the more likely we are to credit the stick (rather than the divine artist) as the reason for the straight line.

5. The quest for uniformity
How uniformity destroys unity

Do you confuse unity with uniformity? How big is your list of things worth fighting over? How diverse is your church family (consider more than just race or economic status)?

Jesus loves us in our differences, not despite them. As his believers, he’s made us one; we don’t have to push to make it so. It already is.

We become accidental Pharisees when we lay down boundary markers that are narrower than the ones laid down by Jesus and then treat people who line up on the wrong side of our markers as if they were spiritual imposters or enemies of the Lord.

Our goal may be to protect the flock.

But boundary markers that are narrower than the ones Jesus laid down don’t protect the flock; they divide the flock.

They sow discord among brothers, something God says he’s not too fond of. They also result in a rash of friendly fire.

6. Gift projection
When my calling becomes everyone else’s calling

Do you think others should do the same things you do? Do you value some gifts or callings higher than others? Do you envy somebody else’s gifts?

If you’re hardwired for adventure and risk taking, don’t play it safe. That’s not how God made you.

But don’t judge the spirituality of others through the lens of God’s calling on your life.

Despite what you may think, you’re not living on the ragged edge because you have greater faith. You live there because God wired you for risk and adventure.

If you’re the type who’s scared to death by risk, don’t sweat it. There’s no reason to feel guilty because you don’t want to go stop sex trafficking in Bangkok, wade your way through the Amazon jungle, or spend your summer digging wells in Africa.

Stick with what you’ve been called to do. If God wants you to take a risk, he’ll give you the will and the power to pull it off. He promised. And he won’t need any drive-by guiltings to get his message across.

Conclusion
Unfortunately, I relate to several of these. You probably do too. Sometimes we grow slowly out of our blind spots. But with increased vision of our own self-righteous motives, we can pray for greater focus on Jesus. After all,

Our hope is not in what we do for God. Our hope is in what God has done for us.

That’s the gospel. That’s discipleship in a nutshell.

And that’s what keeps people like you and me from becoming accidental Pharisees.

* * *

Is it easier for you to see traits of Pharisees in yourself or in others?

Which areas hit closest to home with you?

RELATED:

• I thought I understood
• Humble Orthodoxy – Book review
• The one true church?
• When you can’t keep the rules

MY THANKS TO BOOKSNEEZE
FOR THE REVIEW COPY OF THIS BOOK

Sharing at Hear It, Use It
Playdates with God
The Love Dare
Soli Deo Gloria

Links I like (5/4/13)

The most important type of church. Alistair Begg said it’s a Bible-centered one. Nicole Cottrell disagrees. 

4 ways Christians are getting the gay debate wrong. Jason Collins’ recent announcement sparked lots of talk. Here’s a view by Justin Lee, author of Torn (a book I highly recommend for Christians read to better understand our gay brothers and sisters).

How to stop getting paralyzed and start making better decisions. By Jeff Goins.

Silencing techniques. If you’ve ever silenced anyone with one of these techniques, stop. If you’ve ever been silenced by someone, next time speak up about it.

Christians, we must love our Muslim neighbors, too. Josh Graves took some heat for this—especially in light of the Tsarnaev brothers’ recent atrocity—but he speaks truth. 

* * *

More links I like

A May day - 2013

I am excited...that Jenna comes home today for the summer!

I am praying...for her to find a job for the summer and a new roommate for the fall

I am thinking...and planning for our next memory challenge. Details soon!

I am wondering...how someone could live without internet for a year

I am thankful for...this sweet & happy great-niece showing up at Casa Blanca for lunch

In the kitchen...sauce will be simmering soon for lasagna tonight

I am resolving...to cook more this summer since Jenna will be home

I am going...to Outdoor Church this Saturday, rain or shine, so they say

Around the house...are lots of blooms! I planted annuals this week and several perennials are also flowering 

I am looking forward to...results from our reader survey at Do Not Depart. Want to take it? It’s here (and it’s short!)

I am reading...these and library books. I was so proud of myself for returning The Education of Little Tree when it just didn’t interest me, but I checked out five more books on impulse while I was at the library—oops!

I am pondering these words...“Lord, in my zeal for love of truth, let me not forget the truth about love." -Thomas Aquinas

I am hearing...the audiobook Enemies of the Heart by Andy Stanley, last month’s free selection at Christian Audio (this month is a biography on A. W. Tozer)

A picture to share...although I was sad when the tornadoes ripped out my weeping willow two years ago, my azaleas once underneath it have flourished with the extra sunshine they now get

* * *

What’s happening in your day?

The Simple Woman's Daybook
...where every day is a blank page

Past Daybooks

Dirt under your fingernails? The practice of physical labor

He who is aching in every limb, worn out by the effort of a day of work, that is to say a day when he has been subject to matter, bears the reality of the universe in his flesh like a thorn.

The difficulty for him is to look and to love.

If he succeeds, he loves the Real.
- SIMONE WEIL

Can we use physical labor as a path to the heart of our Creator? As a way to know Jesus, to love Jesus?

Barbara Brown Taylor says in An Altar in the World, 

If all life is holy, then anything that sustains life has holy dimensions too.

The difference between washing windows and resting in God can be a simple decision: choose the work, and it becomes your spiritual practice.

. . . No task is too menial to serve as a path. If you are able to sustain other lives along with your own, then all the better.

May we use even our most menial tasks as holy offerings of love.

* * *

Is there a physical chore you hate to do?

How do you flip it mentally into a choice to bless others?

• April 2013: The practice of saying no
• March 2013: The practice of wearing skin
• February 2013: The practice of slowing down
• January 2013: The practice of waking up to God

APRIL 2013 Posts

Questions you ask (4/29)
Go fish—if he says so (4/25)
What’s on your nightstand? April ’13 (4/23)
When you can, choose your change (4/23)
Know-it-all faith? Or humble orthodoxy? (4/18)
When you see the crumbling—still stand (4/17)
To do or to be? Yes (4/15)
R.I.P. Brennan Manning (4/13)
Your moment of surrender—5 little things to give up (4/11)
Be this nurse (4/10)
When you don’t know what to say (4/8)
This is today in April 2013 (4/5)
Take it personally (4/3)
The practice of saying no: Observe and remember (4/1)

Questions you ask

“Before you go, can I ask one more question?”

I knew Gary wouldn’t mind. Even though we’d only met an hour earlier, he’d already shared so much. This final question would be a pleasing one to him. And the answer would mean much to me.

The first question had come easily. He’d exposed an obvious opening, reading his Bible as he waited for the food we were serving the homeless.

I asked, “So what are you reading?”

That was all it took. If I remember right, he was in Isaiah, but he seized the moment and flipped over to other related passages, giving clear explanations for each. His Bible was heavily colored with highlighters and ink.

I asked, “Are you a student?”

No, he said he was actually a Bible teacher. (My bad. I’m still learning: Never make assumptions about the homeless, well, about anybody.) I asked him if he’d always known Jesus, even as a child, and again he answered no.

He used to be a witch.

Oh. So I asked, “What changed that?”

He said he’d walked through the desert. 

He told me about his journey on the road from Texas to San Francisco. About his friend and about LSD. Then about reading his Bible for a whole year. And about finding truth. And finding Jesus.

His life was new. He learned then taught at a Bible school for eight years in California. He was recently released from the position when they decided he was too mystical to teach there.

He said he was big into spiritual warfare. He flipped to underlined verses and margin notes he’d scribbled around Ephesians 6. We talked about wearing the armor of God and what each piece meant and how important it was.

But he was almost out the door to catch the bus back to wherever he came from (and eventually back to family in North Carolina, hopefully) when I caught his attention one last time to ask my final question:

“Hey Gary, would you share with me your favorite Bible verse?”

I knew it’d tell me the most about Gary. The truths we treasure the greatest, reveal our greatest treasures.

“It’s Matthew 24:13.” And he quoted it,

But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Matthew 24:13 (NIV)

That’s what Gary was most about. Just standing in Jesus. Against the devil’s schemes. Firm to the end (Ephesians 6:11-13).

I don’t know all the warfare that’s come against Gary. That comes against him still.

And I don’t know if our paths will ever cross again. Sometimes one intersection is all we get, and this may have been ours.

But at that junction and for that moment, hearing that answer from Gary about what counts most may have been enough for a lifetime.

So Gary, wherever you are tonight, I pray you’re doing what matters the most. Stand firm to the end, my brother.

* * *

Do you have a favorite Bible verse? Why is it special to you?

Go fish – if he says so

The opportunity opened up unexpectedly. Now it was up to me: yes or no.

Which should I decide?

“No” was safer . . .
It was surer. It carried less potential for controversy, now and later. It would be understood and accepted.

. . . while “yes” had an edge.
It was dangerous. It birthed discomfort and uncertainty. It might be a daring act of love, but not all would see it that way.

I decided to lay it down for awhile on this Monday night, and go meet my friends for an open dive into the Word.

---

The story was read. It was Jesus telling Simon, “Push the boat out further to the deep water, and you and your partners let down your nets for a catch” (Luke 5:4).

I could hear the frustration in Simon’s reply, “Master, we worked hard all night long and caught nothing” (Luke 5:5). “But if you say so, I will let down the nets.”

I imagined the rest. The flurry of activity as fish crowded into the nets. The smell of sweat and salt and the catch. The dependence upon partners’ muscles pulling the load out of the water.

But as the story was read a third time, I was caught off guard.

I heard the invitation no longer to Simon, but to me . . .

Was God also asking me to go further and cast deeper?

Against my conscious will, my impending decision from earlier in the day immediately returned to mind. I knew I was being asked to continue wrestling with it. With Love himself.

“Master, I’ve worked hard to row out this far; can’t I rest comfortably here a bit longer? Isn’t this enough?”

But even though the wrestling wouldn’t end for days, I caught a glimpse immediately of the appropriate answer, “Yes, I will let down the nets, if you say so.”

---

I hadn’t planned on a fishing excursion that Monday night, but God took me on one anyway.

Going further.
Casting deeper.
Answering, “Yes, if you say so.”

* * *

We can’t predict what God wants to say to us when we listen to his words. How has he caught you off guard lately?

What’s on your nightstand? – April ‘13

Just started

Accidental Pharisees
Avoiding Pride, Exclusivity, and the Other Dangers of Overzealous Faith
by Larry Osborne

Who ever plans to be a Pharisee, one viewed as always “right” and proud and judgmental? Yet we all can name quite a few who are. I know I’ve been one, but I don’t want to be anymore. This book addresses how to avoid becoming one even accidentally.

Transformational Architecture
Reshaping Our Lives as Narrative
by Ron Martoia

Very interesting so far. Martoia is breaking down how God’s story fits into our stories using a less traditional approach revolving around context, Biblical text, and the human text, and how to better connect in spiritual conversations with others. 

Understanding Jesus
A Guide to His Life and Times
by Stephen M. Miller

This is a very detailed (i.e., long) book about all things concerning Jesus and the history surrounding the accounts of his time on earth. I got it free on my Kindle because it fits in perfectly with my One Word 2013: Jesus. It’s a review of some stuff I already know, but filling in some new details as well.

The Education of Little Tree
by Forrest Carter

I’m struggling to stay interested in this classic novel about a boy during the Great Depression being raised by his Cherokee grandmother and half-Cherokee grandfather. It’s sweet but just not very plot-heavy. But it’s the May selection of a reading group in my neighborhood I’m thinking about joining, but now I’m not so sure. 

From Eternity to Here
Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God
by Frank Viola

I’m in the first of three sections of this book. This one “lays out the Biblical narrative in such a way that it emphasizes the church as the bride as an eternal passion of God from before the beginning of time.” It makes some interesting points (not all of which I agree with); I do want to keep reading more.

Finished from March’s nightstand

Humble Orthodoxy
Holding the Truth High Without Putting People Down
by Joshua Harris

My review here. I liked it. It’s short and to the point—an expanded chapter from Harris’ Dug Down Deep. It blended well with my reading of Accidental Pharisees (above). (Is God trying to tell me something?)

The Bible as Improv
Seeing and Living the Script in New Ways
by Ron Martoia

I finished this one a few weeks ago, but I’m still thinking about it. Martoia presents some new metaphors (to me anyway) about reading and interpreting the Bible that might not be accepted among traditionalists, but are definitely worth pondering over.

Servanthood as Worship
by Nate Palmer

Another freebie on my Kindle. It’s a fine book, and I’m glad I read it, but it wasn’t particularly thought-provoking. Nonetheless, Palmer makes several valid points about rekindling the call to service not just as a way to help others but as part of our worship to God. 

Awakenings
by Thomas Keating

This is a book I’ll return to because of its depth. Keating addresses various stories in the Bible with a fresh outlook that makes you think a little differently and a little sharper than the same old interpretations. I checked it out from my public library only because it was beside this next book I was looking for by Keating (below), and I’m glad I picked it up.

Open Mind, Open Heart
The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel
by Thomas Keating 

Keating comes across as such a gentle soul. I read this book to learn more about Centering Prayer, a practice that Keating helped bring back into favor. He encourages us that any time we intentionally spend in conversation with God is time well spent.

Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening
by Cynthia Bourgeault

This book amplifies many of the principles from Keating (who is a Catholic monk) and puts them a little more within our reach. But Bourgeault is herself very much a contemplative and writes and practices as such (I like that). I gained a lot from reading this book. 

Draw the Circle
The 40 Day Prayer Challenge
by Mark Batterson

My review here. This devotional (although it’s a full book) is based on his The Circle Maker, and is a wonderful encouragement to pray more often and more persistently. Batterson excels at retelling Bible stories but also fleshing them out with modern-day stories from his own experiences.

Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus
How the Jewish Words of Jesus Can Change Your Life
by Lois Tverberg

This is about the story behind the stories in the New Testament. It explains a little more in depth about the culture and common sayings and other details of Jesus’s time that helps the stories have even more meaning.

The Merchant’s Daughter
by Melanie Dickerson

A sweet medieval novel loosely based on Beauty and the Beast by my friend Melanie. She weaves scripture and godly principles into all her stories in a way that isn’t preachy but still gets the message across. She writes for young adults, but I love her stories as well.

The Survivors Club
The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life
by Ben Sherwood

This is one of those books I wouldn’t have picked out for myself, so I’m glad my sister loaned me her copy because it was a most interesting read about what gives people that survival instinct. The author researched those who’ve lived through harrowing experiences, and analyzed what helped them make it.

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What book(s) are you reading this month?

When you can, choose your change

This is the last time.

It’s Saturday, and the A-Day spring football scrimmage is over. We all head to the trees. Over 60,000 of us.

In three days, the trees on Toomer’s Corner will be cut down, ending a decades-old Auburn University tradition of rolling this pair of live oaks by Toomer’s Drugs on the corner of Magnolia Avenue and College Street to celebrate Auburn victories.

The change is forced.

In November 2010, a fanatic of a rival college purposely poisoned the trees. Their death was gradual, but their demise is final.

So after this final celebratory rolling, the old tradition must morph into a new one.

It’s Sunday morning.

We’re asked to get up on our feet. We do. We begin clapping in rhythm with the guitars, the keyboards, the drums. Our mouths open and praise spills out. Hearts overflow in worship to Jesus.

It’s not how I’ve always done it on Sundays. But this new way encourages me now to greater praise and higher worship, even on Sundays. It works for me in ways that the old traditions were starting to skip.

Sometimes you have no choice but to change.

But sometimes you change only by choice.

I chose my change.

The traditions surrounding the oak trees are being forced to change. The revelry of victories seek new expression.

But my worship traditions changed by choice. The ones no longer expressing the most honor to God needed to change. To be intentionally replaced with purposeful ones, reigniting the worship to the One most worthy of it. From me to him.

Sometimes the choice is between death or change.

I choose change. 

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What works for one may not work for another.
What works in one season may not work in the next.
What change have you had to choose?

RELATED:

• Why break a tradition?

Know-it-all faith? Or humble orthodoxy?

How can we be arrogant about a truth that is completely outside of anything we’ve done?
JOSHUA HARRIS, Humble Orthodoxy

I don’t know, but we definitely can.

And so this short book by Joshua Harris—Humble Orthodoxy—talks us down from our arrogance.

Originally written as the closing chapter in Dug Down Deep, it’s been expanded because it’s something Christ followers need. Despite being saved by grace, we’re still too conceited about our own knowledge, our own works, our own goodness. Yuck. No wonder we’re often seen as unattractive to the world.

Need proof? As Harris points out,

If anyone thinks arrogant orthodoxy doesn’t exist, he’s never read the comments section of a Christian blog.

One of the mistakes Christians often make is that we learn to rebuke like Jesus but not love like Jesus. Sometimes it seems that almost everyone who cares about doctrine is harsh and angry.

And sometimes it seems the more we know, the haughtier we get (despite Paul’s warning about this in 1 Corinthians 8:1).

But it doesn’t need to be that way. Harris says, “Truth matters, but so does our attitude. We have to live and speak and interact with others in a spirit of humility.”

The more we come to know the essential doctrine of grace, the more we should grow in humility.

We don’t have to be jerks with the truth.

We can remember how Jesus showed us mercy when we were his enemies. We can demonstrate a humble orthodoxy, holding on to our identity in the gospel.

We are not those who are right; we are those who have been redeemed.

I know I haven’t arrived. Sometimes the closer I get to grace, the more intolerant I am of detractors from grace. How can I espouse something that I don’t embody?

Repentance has to start with me—“Shouldn’t individuals and churches that hold most faithfully to orthodoxy and biblical truth be the most frequently filled with godly repentance? …We all have good cause to tear our robes.”

So I’d recommend this little book as another tool in our arsenal of killing our pride and lifting up our Savior. Harris doesn’t always hit it spot-on (in my opinion) but he’s at least pointing us in the right direction and awakening us to our wrong attitudes about being right.

Because when all is said and done and we look back on what we once believed, we’ll realize we all had many things wrong.

We’ll realize to our shame that to differing degrees we trusted in our intellect, our morality, the rightness of our doctrine, and our religious performance when all along it was completely grace.

Grace. Complete grace. That’s humble orthodoxy. That’s Jesus.

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• More Info
• Read Chapter One

THANKS TO WATERBROOK MULTNOMAH
FOR THE REVIEW COPY OF THIS BOOK