A Season of Post-lessness

For whatever reason...I'm going through a season of 'post-lessness.' I'm sure it has a lot to do with the time it takes to maintain so many different social spaces online.

There's also my new effort to leave a more formal and thoughtful set of writings about my life and journey the old-fashioned pen & paper.

Facebook is becoming the predominant place of posting...along with my microblogging attempts through Twitter.

So maybe I'll see you over there.

Keeping 9/11 in Perspective

It was one of those moments where you'll never forget where you were at...what you were doing...how you first heard the news.

I was in Houston at a leadership gathering for Nazarene youth workers.

We dismissed the session with a time of prayer and went to our rooms to watch the footage...over and over...and wait for the fate of the second tower.

As horrible as that tragedy was, it's interesting to compare it to others across the globe which have claimed the same number of lives many times over. Natural disasters such as the Tsunami...the earthquake in China...the disaster of Myanmar. Not to mention the more criminal and morally inane acts of war and terrorism which claim dozens of lives on a daily basis in some parts of the world. The genocidal violence which has wiped out hundreds of thousands in Africa over the past two decades.

But for those who continue to suffer from the loss of husband, wife, father, mother, brother, sister, or friend...we remember in prayer today especially.

Celebration of Discipline

I've read this book at least three times I think...and when a friend recently mentioned that he was digging into the chapter on meditation...I was prompted to open it up once again.

So I took Foster out on the kayak at Stonelick Lake yesterday along with a bottle of water and paddled out to the middle and propped myself on a tree that was reaching up out of the water.

As I re-read the chapter out loud, I was challenged by the basic assumption that Christian meditation leads to repentance...obedience...faithfulness. It is not an academic exercise or simply an effort to relieve stress. The many times that "mediatation" is used in the Scriptures...it is connected with transformation and obedience.

One reference that stands out is the admonition in Psalm 1 ...

1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

Another idea that jumps out at me from this passage is that this individual yields fruit in season...and does not wither.

I am presently struggling a bit with my calling and my ministry context. My perception is that fruit is somewhat sparse at the moment. But do I understand the concept of "seasons?" Or do I really live according to 'chairos' (God's timing) rather than 'chronos' (our segmented version of time)? Am I just feeling a bit withered? Spiritual malnourishment?

Not sure...but I need to be more intentional with some time for meditation and prayer...not from a dutiful or obligatory sense...but because I'm passionately loving and being loved by God.