We have a timeout chair in our house. The timeout routine typically goes something like this... "Go to time out."Wait prescribed time."Why are you in time out?"Explanation and discussion."What do you need to say?""Sorry""I forgive you.""You may get out of time out." Now let me ask you something. What is the good news for our children here?If you say forgiveness, you're partially right. It's definitely a wonderful thing. But forgiveness is only the beginning. The good news for our … [Read more...] about Forgiveness Is Only the Beginning
Archives for October 2013
What Is This Obsession with Soul?
We are on a 31 day journey of chasing soul. It occurs to me I have not defined my terms. What do I mean by 'chasing soul'? What is this obsession with soul?When I speak of chasing soul, I mean learning to live out of a deeper reality. Rather than flit and fly along the surface, buffeted by every breeze, we live out of an anchored soul-level place. Brent Curtis and John Eldredge describe this place well in The Sacred Romance: The inner life, the story of our heart, is the life of the … [Read more...] about What Is This Obsession with Soul?
When You Don’t Need to Know All the Details
I've been thinking a lot about a quote from Bob Goff in his encouraging book Love Does. Every time one of his children turned ten, he took them on an adventure of their choosing. Very little planning...all heart and gusto. He draws parallels between those adventures and the one Jesus calls us to: Even though Jesus' disciples were older, they must have felt like my kids did on their ten-year-old adventures. They saw joy and suffering, triumph and tragedy, and in the end there was just a … [Read more...] about When You Don’t Need to Know All the Details
Your Story Is Beautiful
Your story is beautiful. I hope you know that. Every nuance, every twist, every banal and trivial detail...it is all more beautiful than you know. When you share your story, I glimpse soul. I see my soul and I learn, as I see your soul displayed. Don't hide your story. Tell it. I will do a better job of listening. I will slow down. I won't try to fix you. I won't try to answer questions you're not asking. I'll just listen. I will listen for God in your story. I will watch for … [Read more...] about Your Story Is Beautiful
Thirsty and Vulnerable
To come in contact with soul is to encounter thirst and vulnerability. I often wish there was another way. I wish I could step into deep and rich places of beauty and wonder and divinity without having to experience my own need, without having to know my absolute desperation, but soul and thirst and vulnerability are intertwined. To find soul, to press into the deep places of the heart, we must confront our thirsts, both our longings and our shortcomings. We must see them and deliver them to … [Read more...] about Thirsty and Vulnerable
A New York Adventure
We were supposed to be visiting a seminary in Boston. We had flown up the night before, scoped out the Commons, visited some classes, but we were hankering The Big Apple. Chris and I were never ones to shy away from adventure, so we did some research and discovered a bus that goes from Boston's Chinatown to New York's Chinatown for a only few bucks. We were all in. I honestly don't remember how we got to the bus station. We had no car. But somehow we talked a stranger into dropping us off … [Read more...] about A New York Adventure