i want to remember i've read this

"It is January and I am looking at a little girl, crushed under a brick wall with no one to care for..."

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:45:25 -0500

“

It is January and I am looking at a little girl, crushed under a brick wall with no one to care for her or her younger siblings. I offer to take the three home with me until we find them a better placement. I am not really sure what to do with them, but I know they are God’s children. They stay.

It is three days later and the littlest looks at me and calls me mommy. My heart might break in two. Something clicks. I am even more scared than I was the day I stepped on that plane, but I KNOW. Today I have 13.

I have to deliver a baby, give a boy stitches, pull a tooth, give and injection. I am petrified. But no one will do it if I do not. He is present, He holds my hand, they are all fine.

”

- the Journey

*** Wow, wow, wow. Please read the whole thing!

The Gospel & the Poor - Tim Keller

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:29:46 -0500

The Gospel & the Poor - Tim Keller

Help! Mommydom leaves me no time for God!

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:24:39 -0500

Help! Mommydom leaves me no time for God!

I've Never Been Mistaken for Brad Pitt

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:13:38 -0500

I've Never Been Mistaken for Brad Pitt

"When minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new sessions of the Kansas Senate, everyone was..."

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:51:40 -0500

“

When minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new sessions of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, “Woe to those who call evil good,” but that’s exactly what we’ve done. We’ve lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values. We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it pluralism. We have worshipped other gods and called it multicultueralism. We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle. We have exploited the poor and called it lottery. We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have short abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the airwaves with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed time-honored values aof our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, O God, and know our hearts today. Try us and see if there be some wicked way in us. Cleanse us from every sin and set us free.

”

- Joseph Wright

"I’m not for a minute advocating a cheap grace or an easy-believeism. But the yoke still is easy,..."

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:03:51 -0500

“I’m not for a minute advocating a cheap grace or an easy-believeism. But the yoke still is easy, right? And the burden still is light, is it not? The danger–and it’s a danger I’ve fallen foul of in my own preaching–is that in all our efforts to be prophetic, radical, and missional, we end up getting the story of Pilgrim’s Progress exactly backwards. “Come to the cross, Pilgrim, see the sacrifice for your sins. Isn’t that wonderful? Now bend over and let me load this burden on your back. There’s a lot of work we have to do, me and you.” A cross, yes. Jesus said we would have to carry one of those. But a cross that kills our sins, smashes our idols, and teaches us the folly of self-reliance. Not a burden to do the impossible. Not a burden to always do more for Jesus. Not a burden of bad news that never lets up and obedience that is always out reach.”

- Kevin DeYoung, On Mission, Changing the World, and Not Being Able to Do It All

"Two resources were very helpful to me as I wrestled with all of this in seminary. The first was the..."

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:01:45 -0500

“Two resources were very helpful to me as I wrestled with all of this in seminary. The first was the senior sermon preached to my class by Gordon Hugenberger of Park Street Church. The sermon was based on John the Baptist’s words “I freely confess I am not the Christ.” Hugenberger’s point to a group of soon-to-be pastors was simple. “Look, you are just the best man, not the groom. You are not the Messiah. Don’t act like it. Don’t let people force you to be something you are not. Don’t let them expect too much from you. Confess to yourself and to your people: I am not the Christ.” I still have a copy of the sermon (thanks Joey) and listen to it from time to time. Many pastors would do well to remember this humble and freeing confession. And many churchgoers would be thankful to have their pastors let up on all the “go do the mission of Jesus” sermons. He was the Christ after all and we are not.”

- Kevin De Young, On Mission, Changing the World, & Not Being Able to Do It All

"The problem with “do more” Christianity is that no one is ever allowed to get it right. And the..."

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:57:14 -0500

“The problem with “do more” Christianity is that no one is ever allowed to get it right. And the problem, ironically enough, with never allowing anyone to get it right, is that fewer people feel like getting it right really matters.”

- Kevin DeYoung, On Mission, Changing the World, and Not Being Able to Do It All

"And as I follow, untethered, I grow in love for the light, and the light that is in him was the..."

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:41:25 -0500

“And as I follow, untethered, I grow in love for the light, and the light that is in him was the light that shone over the surface of the oldest void. This is the morning I became a better poiema. One called me Day, and so there was born a new thirst for Light.”

- “ars poetica”

Amber & the runamuck

this is not a rough draft: my favorite characters pick up garbage

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 10:21:23 -0500

this is not a rough draft: my favorite characters pick up garbage

{this} restless heart :: I think dignity is overrated

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 10:21:04 -0500

{this} restless heart :: I think dignity is overrated

{this} restless heart: Yes, I want to write

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 10:13:13 -0500

{this} restless heart: Yes, I want to write

Eternity in Our Hearts? Ecc. 3:11 Revisited

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:49:08 -0500

Eternity in Our Hearts? Ecc. 3:11 Revisited

"if it doesn’t come bursting out of you in spite of everything, don’t do it. unless it..."

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:19:15 -0500

“

if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it for money or
fame,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don’t do it.
if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
don’t do it.
if you’re trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you’re not ready.

don’t be like so many writers,
don’t be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don’t be dull and boring and
pretentious, don’t be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don’t add to that.
don’t do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don’t do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don’t do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

”

- Charles Bukowski

World Mag :: A Grief Conserved

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:52:05 -0500

World Mag :: A Grief Conserved

"Those of us who write, who sing, who paint, must remember that to a child a song may glow like a..."

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:28:44 -0500

““Those of us who write, who sing, who paint, must remember that to a child a song may glow like a nightlight in a scary bedroom. It may be the only thing holding back the monsters. That story may be the only beautiful, true thing that makes it through all the ugliness of a little girl’s world to rest in her secret heart. May we take that seriously. It is our job, it is our ministry, it is the sword we swing in the Kingdom, to remind children that the good guys win, that the stories are true, and that a fool’s hope may be the best kind.””

- Andrew Peterson, on Between Two Worlds part 3 interview

A Familiar Path :: Sewing a Memory

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:36:39 -0500

A Familiar Path :: Sewing a Memory

"I suddenly feel like I understand myself better. And the way drops of tears fall onto my keyboard as..."

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 08:47:27 -0500

“I suddenly feel like I understand myself better. And the way drops of tears fall onto my keyboard as I jab out my heart’s secrets springs into meaning. My blog is my space to be. Just to be me. I do wish only strangers would read my words, not extended family members. I muffle my posts in the gauze of sister, daughter, niece, wife and mother and somewhere in there the little voice of me can get lost. But I am learning to peel back the layers and not carry the boulder of who is glimpsing the truth in me, but rather shrug off that weight and write like there is no tomorrow. Because if I do not, I stay asleep. Blogging has allowed me to step into a hidden room – and it is a captivating place, streaming with light and fragrance. It is where I worship and allow myself to stand exposed before my Creator and set Him first. What a priviledge. Thanks for your probing thoughts – they serve to prompt and encourage further refining of purpose. Delicious.”

- Amy, of Haven Space, in response to Emily’s post of “define your bloggy purpose”

Chatting at the Sky :: define your bloggy purpose

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 08:24:06 -0500

Chatting at the Sky :: define your bloggy purpose

"As I said, I grew up in the church. I went to Sunday school, VBS, church camp, Wednesday night Bible..."

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 08:21:00 -0500

“As I said, I grew up in the church. I went to Sunday school, VBS, church camp, Wednesday night Bible study—the whole shebang. But it wasn’t until my freshman year of Bible college, in an Old Testament survey class, that the light bulb finally went on. It was the first time I realized the Bible is telling one big story, and that story is the one God is telling with history. My love of fiction, of film, even of comic books began to make sense through that lens. What I had always loved about those stories was the Story, seen in glimpses, felt with goosebumps and lumps in the throat that I couldn’t explain. G.K. Chesterton said no man ever entered a brothel who wasn’t looking for God. Well, no one ever walked into a movie theater or read a novel who wasn’t hungry for the Gospel.”

- Andrew Peterson, interviewed posted on Betwen Two Worlds