Donald Miller notes

Recently I read Donald Miller's latest book

Searching For God Knows What on vacation. I think I liked it better than his best seller Blue Like Jazz.

Miller says that we tend to take the Bible and create formulas for everything. (Think alliterated, three point sermons - five steps to... and eight ways to...) But the Bible isn't a book of formulas. It's a book about relationships. People who have called on God and people who have run from God. We learn how to have a relationship with God through the relational experiences that others have had with him in the past.

Here are a few quotes and thoughts:

"If the gospel of Jesus is just some formula I obey in order to get taken off the naughty list and put on a nice list, then it doesn't meet the deep need of the human condition, it doesn't interact with the great desire of my soul, and it has nothing to do with the hidden (or rather, obvious) language we are all speaking. But if it is more, if it is a story about humanity falling away from the community that named it, and an attempt to bring humanity back to that community, and if it is more than a series of ideas, but rather speaks directly into this basic human need we are feeling, then the gospel of Jesus is the most relevant message in the history of mankind." p. 45

Becoming a Christian is more like falling in love than agreeing with a list of principles. p. 46

"The battle we are in (i.e., the cultural battle in the US between conservatives and liberals) is a battle against the principalities of darkness, not against the people who are different from us. In war you shoot the enemy, not the hostage." p. 190 (italics mine)

Jesus says there will be people who will heal other people, but when they die he is going to say he didn't know them. It is somewhat amazing to me that all of Christianity, all our grids and mathematics and truths and different groups subscribing to different theological ideas, boils down to our knowing Jesus and his knowing us. p. 200 (GJ's note: Paul stated that nothing was more important than knowing Christ - Philippians 2:9)

The Slowskies

Comcast has a TV commercial about a turtle couple called the Slowskies. They don't like high-speed internet. They are completely satisfied with their dial-up service because they don't like for things to happen too fast.

I feel like the Slowskies sometimes because it feels like it is taking forever to get my second book going. But I'm making progress. I have the first 3 chapters and the proposal almost complete so that my agent can begin shopping it to publishers. The working title for now is Your Greatest Challenge and subtitled Selfless Living in a Selfish World. Maybe we'll get moving on this thing when a publisher bites on it.

In the meantime, I'd appreciate your taking a look at my first book Timely Words. It's a great gift book - men especially seem to like it because it has a lot of quick reads.

You are rich!

Go to this link.  It will take you less than 30 seconds to see how incredibly blessed we are in this country. 

 

 

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

 

 

Addendum 06/20/06: A friend of mine emailed today to thank me for this link and to say that he just returned from a mission trip to Guatemala. According to him, the average annual salary there is $650.

Change Your Life!

The following is a quote from Story by Steven James:

“Frankly, I’m tired of hearing about conferences, seminars, books, and DVDs that will change my life. ‘This (fill in the blank) will change your life! Attend this life-changing (fill in the blank) and you’ll never be the same again! It’ll be life changing!’”

“On the back of one Christian book I recently picked up were three separate quotes by Christian celebrities, all of which promised, ‘This book will change your life!’”

“A hernia will change your life. Swallowing two pounds of Ex-Lax will change your life. Getting bitten by a rabid dog will change your life. So will going bankrupt, joining a cult, or getting a tapeworm. All of these things are very life changing.”

“Change is not always a good thing. What I need isn’t change from one thing to another but transformation from who I am into who I was meant to become. Only when God’s transforming power touches me can I begin to live the simpler, freer, fresher, more creative, more patient, more passionate, more sacrificial, riskier, rawer, more real, more love-driven life God intended for me to have all along.”

“That transformation is what awaits all who will dare to enter the story of God. As Paul wrote, 'Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think' (Romans 12:2).”

 

 

Click this link to get your copy of Story

Writer's Conference Debriefing

The Writer's Conference was great.  I thought I'd go through my notes and post some notes and quotes here.

 

From McNair Wilson:

 

"Art history books are full of art created by people between the ages of 40 and 60."

 

"For me not to be the person God created me to be is blasphemy to God."

 

"Don't worry about trying to be larger than life.  Just be actual size."

 

"Do what you love.  The reason you love it is because God put it there."

 

 

"No one has ever hit a homerun from the dugout." (Alton Gansky on risk tasking)

 

"We judge others based on their actions.  We judge ourselves based on our motives." (Jonathan Clements)

 

What God Did On The Final Day

 

Before I left Ridgecrest, I climbed the mountain and hit some trails. I didn't have a chance to do it earlier in the week and I had done nothing but eat and sit the entire conference so I felt like I'd gained 10 pounds and needed to exercise.

 

I hit the trail and spent some time talking to God about what I'd heard this week, how I felt about my writing career, my ministry, etc.  So I had one of those familiar conversations with God about his will and what he wanted me to do with my life.

 

I sat in the middle of the woods in a soft rain for quite some time.  I gave everything to God (again) and said, "Talk to me.  You've given me clear directions before...I need to hear from you today.  Do you want me to pursue writing or not?"

 

It was quiet.  No revelations.

 

I drove home for the first hour in silence.  I just wanted to listen.  I pulled out my conference notes and reviewed them while doing 70 mph down I-26.  I finally put a CD in, got some music on and thought about writing the rest of the way home.

 

Fast forward to that night.  As I'm opening a stack of mail 13" high.  I see what looked like another invoice from my distributor who warehouses and distributes my book.  I dreaded opening the envelope from the distributor because I figured they were billing me for the dust sitting on the cases of my books in their warehouse. 

 

Guess what?  It was a check.  I haven't received a commission check from them in over two years.  The check was only for $193.50 so I won't "quit my day job."  But I was excited to actually get a check from them for a change.

 

Then it dawned on me.  This was God's answer to my prayer.  I don't think it's a coincidence that I received that rare check on the same day that I asked God to speak to me about my writing.  He's reminded me that he is the one that put the passion in me to write and I must pursue that passion.  If not, as speaker McNair Wilson said earlier in the day, it's blasphemy to God to not be who he has created me to be.

 

 

Motivation Mountain

I'm attending the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer's Conference at Ridgecrest Conference Center in Black Mountain, NC this week.  Hopefully the mountains will motivate me to write more - and maybe even blog more than once a month!

 

Heard a guy named McNair Wilson speak this morning.  He is an incredibly talented and funny speaker.  He spent 10 years as an Imagineer with Disney.  Wish you could have experienced the hour we had with him.  You can learn more about him at his website www.mcnairwilson.com.

 

I'm taking a class in the morning on writing adult non-fiction and a fiction class in the afternoon.  So far so good.

 

Gotta go.  It's time for supper.

 

 

Thoughts on Prayer

It has been said, “Prayer is the key which unlocks the door of God’s treasure house.”  In the classic book, The Kneeling Christian, the author (unknown) prefaced the book saying, “It is not too much to say that all real growth in the spiritual life depends upon the practice of prayer.”  Later he wrote,

 

The greatest thing we can do for God or for man is to pray.  We can accomplish far more by our prayers than by our work.  Prayer is omnipotent.  It can do anything that God can do!  When we pray God works.  All fruitfulness in service is the outcome of prayer – of the worker’s prayers, or of those who are holding up holy hands on his behalf.

 

Guess I'm getting old...

I had an awful revelation today.  I used to consider myself a dumb jock.  But I'm not much of a jock anymore.  That makes me just plain dumb.

Your Dash

What are you doing with your dash?  No, not the dashboard on your car.  The dash between your birth year and your death year.  One day there will be a headstone with your name on it in a cemetery.  It will have your name and the beginning and ending years of your life.  In between, there will be a dash.  The dash may represent 80 years or more.  Regardless of the years represented, the question remains, “What are you doing with your dash?”

    

Are you accomplishing your purpose in life?  Do you have one?  Are you making a life or making a living?  Are you leaving a positive impression on those around you or are you leaving them in depression?

 

These are hard questions yet it is a hard reality.  Consider the life of King David of Old Testament fame.  The Bible simply says that “when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep,” (i.e. he died).   You have a purpose for your generation.  How are you doing with your dash? (Timely Words, p. 17)

 

 

How Christians Get A Bad Name

This was a response I wrote to a post on www.theooze.com.  Someone posted that some bookstore owners complain that Christians are bad customers due to the fact that they bounce checks, don't pay on time, etc. etc.

 

I came up with this Top 10 list and thought I would post it here too.  I'm hoping David Letterman will see it and hire me as writer for his show.

 

Top 10 Other Ways Christians Get a Bad Name:

10. Spending a gazallion dollars taking over a humongous sports arena.
9. Saying that we should assassinate the President of a certain South American country.
8. Wearing entirely too much eye shadow.
7. Wearing a white suit and slinging your hair from one side of your head to the other to cover up your baldspot.
6. Shooting your quail hunting partner. (Oh wait, that's another way that Vice Presidents get a bad name.)
5. Having a clip from your religious program shown on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
4. Having a fish on the back of your car...especially the fish eating the Darwin thing.
3. Having a divorce rate higher than the rest of the country.
2. Letting fundamentalists like the preacher dude at www.godhatesfags.com actually represent Christ-followers.
1. Playing the church game and not fleshing out what it truly means to be a Christ-follower.

Quotes

"If you're trying to be relevant, you are already behind. We are agents of change creating the future that God is imagining." -- Erwin McManus


"Let's play pirates like the good ole' days. Let's laugh so hard we pee in our pants. Let's go to Canada and go bowling, just so we can say "remember that time we went bowling in Canada?" Then Thank the King for our playfulness. Live today - out loud and hilariously!"

Interesting quote

While raking the yard today I finished listening to the audio version of Anne Lamott's latest book, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith.  Now that I've heard it, I need to buy the book so that I can go back through it and note all of the good quotes.  Here's one that I remembered... 

 

"We are not humans having a spiritual experience.  We are spirits having a human experience."

 

PS - I love Anne Lamott.  I would recommend reading Traveling Mercies: Thoughts on Faith first.  Just to get to know her.  She is raw and honest.  She is a left-wing, feminist, recovering alcoholic, San Francisco Democrat who, in her words, "didn't mean to become a Christian."  But she did and I'm glad.  It's fun hearing her views and her love for Christ.

Thoughts on Race, Mortality, and Love

Last Saturday I had the privilege of performing a wedding ceremony for a wonderful young couple.  It was my first opportunity to ever be involved with an interracial marriage.  The groom was black and the bride was white.  As I stepped out into the wedding chapel at the beginning of the service, it was hard not to notice that everyone on the groom's side (with the exception of my wife) was black and everyone on the bride's side was white.  The center aisle clearly divided not only the families but the races. 

 

However, we did an unusual thing near the beginning of the ceremony.  After standing and singing "Amazing Grace," I asked both sets of parents to stand.  Then I said, "It is traditional for the father of the bride to give her away.  However, in a real sense, both sets of parents share in the giving and receiving.  It is the joining of two families."  Then I asked the parents of the groom if they not only gave their son to be the bride’s husband, but also joyfully receive the bride as their daughter.  The groom's parents replied, "We do."  The same question was asked to the bride's parents.

 

Beth told me that the folks sitting near her really liked that.  The parents and families gave this Christian couple their blessings.

 

It was a joyful union of not only a man and a woman but also two families...two families with different histories, different cultures, and different skin colors.  I found it interesting that this wedding was on MLK weekend and thought to myself that this ceremony would probably not have been well received 40 years ago.  We haven't solved all of our race relation problems but I thought it significant that this wedding was a joyous occasion between these two families on the annual weekend when we think about these things.

 

Sunday night, my 16-year-old daughter, Bailey, came home crying.  I thought maybe she'd gotten a ticket or hit a dog or something.  She had just received word that one of her lifelong classmates was killed in a car accident.  She had lost another friend in a car wreck at the beginning of this school year.  Two friends in one year.  It's almost not fair.  There was another boy in the car with Bailey's friend.  A total of three students from her high school have died in car crashes.  It is difficult for these teenagers to face.  It is definitely a wake-up call to the dangers we face everyday in our cars and to the mortality of us all.  God bless those families and the students at NAHS.

 

Yesterday I was reading C.S. Lewis.  He wrote something that I thought was profound.  The world exists not so that we can love God but so that God can love us.  He went on to explain that our job is to soak up his love for us.  We tend to get so busy loving God and working for God that we don't take time to let him love us.  At least I do anyway.  I need to stop my busyness for God long enough to enjoy his love for me.  I confess that I don't do that near enough.

She Did What She Could

I was recently made aware of an interesting statement in the Bible that I had not noticed before.  Mark 14 tells the story of the woman who broke the alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it on Jesus' head.  Some of those present thought she was foolish to waste what amounted to more than a year's salary worth of perfume.  Jesus rebuked them and said that she had done a beautiful thing.  Then the statement that struck me where Jesus said, "She did what she could."

 

This beautiful thing that the woman did to Jesus was more than sacrificing a fragrance worth more than the average Hebrew's annual salary.  The beautiful thing was that she did all that she could for Jesus.  Like the widow who gave all that she had, this woman exhibited her love for Christ by giving all that she had.

 

Which begs the question to us.  Are you doing all that you can?  Are you loving God and loving others (The Great Commandment - Matthew 22:37-39) with all that you are and all that you have? 

Judy Barnes

We lost a wonderful missionary this week.  Judy Barnes, a long-time friend of our family, was overcome by an aggressive cancer last Sunday morning.  Survivors include her husband, Ed, sons, Kevin and Kelly, daughter, Jenny, their spouses, and 11 grandchildren.  She was 57.

 

I wish you could have known Judy and her heart for missions.  She was a missionary in Tanzania and Malawi.  She especially loved ministering to children of AIDS victims.  She and Ed formed a partnership that showed the love of Christ in practical ways.  I had the privilege of helping Ed put together a PowerPoint slide presentation to be used at her funeral tomorrow.  He gave me some pictures of Judy and asked me to put quotes from Proverbs 31 (The Godly Woman) under them.  What a blessing it was to be able to review Judy's life and see photographic evidence of her godliness.  Where Proverbs 31 says, "She holds out her hands to the needy,"  there is a picture of Judy giving food to the poor.  Where Proverbs 31 says, "She opens her arms to the poor," there she is again holding a small child in a remote African village.  I told Ed that many people claim to know Proverbs 31 women but he has pictures proving that Judy was one!  Every passage from that chapter had a picture of Judy in action doing what God's Word said a godly woman would do.  I wish you could see it. 

 

Pray for this awesome and godly family during this time of grief.

A Christmas Story

 

And there were in the same country, children keeping watch over their stockings by the fireplace.  And, lo, Santa Claus came upon them; and they were sore afraid.  And Santa said unto them; “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people who can afford it.  For unto you will be given great feasts of turkey, dressing, and pies; and many presents; and this shall be a sign unto you, ye shall find the presents, wrapped in bright paper, lying beneath a tree adorned with tinsel, colored balls, and lights.  And suddenly, there will be with you a multitude of relatives and friends, praising you and saying, ‘Thank you so much, it was just what I wanted.’ 

 

And it shall come to pass as the friends and relatives have gone away unto their homes, the parents shall say to one another, ‘Wow!  What a mess to clean up!  I’m too tired.  Let’s go to bed and pick it up tomorrow.  Thank goodness Christmas only comes once a year!’  And they go with haste to their beds.” 

The Thanksgiving Killer

(The following is the introduction to a message from Thanksgiving weekend 2003.  Thought it was worth repeating.)

 

How was your Thanksgiving?  Mine?  Well, we filled up on turkey, honey ham, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, rice and gravy, cream corn, dressing, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, and broccoli casserole, mmm, mmm.  For dessert, we had red velvet cake, pecan pie, coconut cake, fudge, and chocolate chip cookies.

 

When I walked in the kitchen to see all of the work that went into the meal it looked like the first three rows at a Gallagher show. 

 

We all sat back stuffed, miserable, and grateful for all of the food.  We reflected on the past and dreamed about the future.  We enjoyed seeing family and friends that we don’t often see.  Later that night, I went to bed grateful for all the blessings that I have.

 

Then the Thanksgiving killer arrived.  Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving when Christmas shopping officially begins. It is represented by this huge newspaper that arrived at my house.  The largest newspaper of the year with sales inserts galore.  Virtually every retail store in Augusta has an ad or insert in here.

 

Why is this the Thanksgiving killer?  Because on Thanksgiving Day, we thought about all that we have and we were grateful.  But on the day after Thanksgiving through the rest of the holidays, we focus not on what we have but on what we want.

 

The Thanksgiving killer is the Christmas commercialism that says we need more.  Just when we have a day to be thankful for all of our blessings, the Thanksgiving killers show up and tell us that we will not be happy until we have something more.

 

Someone wrote, “Half the world is unhappy because it can’t have the things that are making the other half unhappy.”

 

Author Steve Brown writes, “The most unhappy person in the world is not someone who didn’t get what he or she wanted. The most unhappy person is the one who got what he or she wanted and then found out that it wasn’t as wonderful as expected. The secret of a happy life is not to get what you want but to live with what you’ve got. Most of us spend our lives concentrating on what we don’t have instead of thanking God for what we do have.” (Servant Magazine, September, 1993, p. 8)

 

Our problem is that we are looking at the Christmas catalogs focusing on what we want rather than looking at our photo albums and rejoicing in what we have!

The Sin of Busyness

Busyness is the American way.  It’s an expectation.  It’s a status symbol.  We greet each other with “How’s it going?”  “Busy” is the reply.  You don't have to have small children to be busy.  You can have a job, serve in a volunteer organization or two, take a class, and be active in the church and you'll have a full calendar.  My in-laws have been retired for many years now and they claim that they are busier now than ever. 

 

There's an old saying that says, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop."  I believe that busyness is the devil's workshop too.  There’s a line to be drawn somewhere between busyness and laziness.  If idleness is the devil’s workshop and busyness is the devil’s workshop then how do we get into God’s workshop?  As God’s people, we are to be progressing, moving along, and growing.  But it is necessary for us to know the difference between progress and pressure.  A Christian should always be progressing but rarely in a hurry.  Where to draw that line between busyness and laziness can only be determined by you and God.

 

It isn't wrong to be busy.  Look through the Bible and you'll see godly men and women who were busy.  Moses, David, Joshua, and Paul were busy doing God’s work.  But you need to know that a busyness that is not directed by God is not blessed by God.  Busyness can devastate your spiritual life as easily as idleness can.  Jesus did not say, “I have come so that you can be busy.”  He said, “I have come that you may have life.”

 

One of the keys to living a satisfying Christian life is finding that path that allows you to progress and grow and serve as a Christian at a pace that doesn't create burnout and broken dreams. 

A Life Changing Day

27 years ago today, my life changed forever. It was on this day when I understood that if I was going to live a life with meaning and purpose I would need to hand it over to God. So I did. The night before, I called a Christian friend of mine, Richard Smith, and asked him what was up with all the Jesus stuff I'd been hearing about lately. In August 1978, some friends and I went on a fishing excursion one night. None of us were church-goers or religious at the time but somehow the subject of the second coming of Christ came up. It intrigued me. I didn't know anything about it. I thought he'd already been here once. I didn't know he was coming again!

Later, as the school year progressed, there was a spiritual awakening going on at our school. I didn't realize it at the time but God was up to something as he was getting the attention of a lot of high school kids. A small group of Christian students were making quite an impact on our school. They weren't preachy or holier than thou. They were just loving life and all of those around them. I wanted what they had. My curiosity led me to learn the basics of the gospel and enough interest to attend a youth-oriented revival service at the local First Baptist Church. I attended that night with one of my fishing buddies. I knew that I needed to become a follower of Christ but I was scared. Thus, the call to Richard on the night of October 25.

After my conversation with Rich, I knew what I needed to do. I went to First Baptist again the next night and Don Brock, our youth pastor, showed me the way to Jesus. That one decision has changed my life.

Since becoming a fully devoted follower of Christ, he has blessed me immensely over and over and over again. Has it been easy? No way. The Christian life is not an easy life. But it is the most awesome thing in the universe to have my Creator, who loves me more than I can imagine, leading me every step of the way. I recommend it to everyone.

Velvet Elvis book review

Rob Bell's first book, Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith, is as enticing and challenging as his teachings from his pulpit. Bell, the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, MI, has quickly climbed to the top of the charts among young, emerging church leaders. His curiosity, insight, and honesty makes for a somewhat "outside the box" type of read.

What if the Velvet Elvis painting he owns was the definitive painting of Elvis? What if no other paintings of Elvis were necessary? What if that one painting of the King defined everything about him? It's crazy to think that there is only one accurate portrayal of Elvis.

What would the church be like if someone decided that there is only one way to do church? What if we did not allow church leaders and next generation Christians to paint the church in a fresh way? What if we said that the church has already been accurately portrayed and there is no reason to mess with it? It would be sad.

Rob Bell challenges us to think new thoughts about Jesus and how we "paint" his church. I highly recommend this book.

Click on the headline above to get it at www.timelywords.spreadtheword.com