by
Chet
5. March 2010 07:57
We come into the world with a longing to be known and a deep-seated fear that we aren’t what we should be. We are set up for a crisis of identity. And then, says Frederick Buechner, the world goes to work:Starting with the rather too pretty young woman and the charming but rather unstable young man, who together know no more about being parents than they do the far side of the moon, the world sets in to making us what the world would like us to be, and because we have to survive after all, we try to make ourselves into something that we hope the world will like better than it apparently did the selves we originally were. That is the story of all our lives, needless to say, and in the process of living out that story, the original, shimmering self gets buried so deep that most of us hardly end up living out of it at all. Instead, we live out all the other selves which we are constantly putting on and taking off like coats and hats against the world’s weather. (Telling Secret...
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by
Chet
5. November 2009 09:59
This is an extended excerpt from a newsletter I received yesterday from The Noble Heart. It's an excellent picture of walking with God through the dark times.
Night vision. It feels like night vision is required when looking into our own life or the life of another. We can make out the shape of some things that seem to be significant in the discovery of who we are, but they remain fairly dim and undefined or can disappear altogether. I remember several late evenings (actually early mornings) getting up and walking into the kitchen to get a pain reliever for a headache. I would leave the lights off hoping not to wake my wife and avoiding any other reasons for my head to hurt. As I would walk through the dark living room, I would sometimes catch a glimpse of a pair of shoes or the vacuum cleaner with my peripheral vision. As I tried to focus directly on it, it would often disappear. As soon as I looked straight ahead, I would see i...
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by
Chet
14. October 2009 08:26
I'm reading a book by Andy Stanley called Visioneering. Excellent book about not just leadership, but finding out who God made you to be, and what He made you to do, and how to get from "here" to "there." Right now I'm reading all about that "wait and pray" phase that so often is right before the "give up because it must not be God's will" phase. This post is a place for me to jot down quotes, thoughts, and things I learn from the book.
The basic building blocks of a vision:
A vision begins as a concern.
A vision does not necessarily require immediate action.
Pray for opportunities and plan as if you expect God to answer your prayers.
God is using your circumstances to position and prepare you to accomplish his vision for your life.
And some quotes and lessons as I go through the book.
CHAPTER 1 - A VISION IS BORN
We've forgotten who we are and where we came from.
"Visions are born in the soul of a man or woman who is consumed with the tension between what is and what ...
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by
Chet
23. September 2009 09:43
"To look into the face of a suffering child is to see the depth of humanity and the heart of God."
This is a timely quote as I read through the book Fields of the Fatherless. The world is full of children, families, and men and women with no hope... without even a hope for hope.
I heard the words above in a video I saw today. It's graphically realistic.
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