Archive — Journey
28 May
Joy in the Journey
It starts when we are very young. Someone, probably a mother or father, hears a young child plink plinking on the keys of a piano and decides it is time for him to take piano lessons. Before he knows what’s hit him, his newfound delight in music becomes homework. His passion is smothered in scales and thirty minutes of practice each day. His joy morphs into a world of rules and theory and hard work, and he nearly forgets what made him want to touch the keys in the first place.
27 May
Training Wheels
I remember my very first bicycle: a deep purple frame, a white basket fastened to the handlebars, beaded spokes framed by white tires, and pedals that acted as the brakes when spun in reverse. I loved that bicycle because no matter how much I swerved, my bike always stayed on course. It never teetered or ventured from its straight, upright position. No matter how much I leaned to each side, my bike remained steady, held in place by a sturdy set of training wheels.
21 May
Three Feet Under…
I remember the first year I started working for the Town of Cochrane for my summer job. They put me on a little John Deere mower and it took me forever to learn. However, after a few weeks I started to get the hang of it; then I started to get cocky. I would pull into the yard and kick up a dust storm as I spun into my parking spot on the gravel road. I would roll up my sleeves, put on my sunglasses and jam to my iPod as I sped around trees and playgrounds, cutting grass like a pro.
19 May
How’d I End Up Here?
I’ve realized something about myself: I’m a complete sucker for compliments. A couple years ago while doing intern missions in Athens, Greece however, this got me into some big trouble.
12 May
Balancing Act
What happens when you neglect one thing and focus on another? You get really good at what you focused on and worse at what you neglected. If you knew me, you’d know that I always say “repetition is a great thing.” I don’t always “get” a lesson the first time, but I’ve got this one finally!
7 May
Savior and Lord?
If you have ever seen someone perform the old vaudeville act of plate spinning, you will have a good picture of what life has felt like lately. You know, furiously running from plate to plate to keep each one upright on its tall, wobbly stick as though the world depends upon my personal involvement and oversight to keep it spinning on its axis. Yes, I admit it. I have a control problem. It’s not really that I want control. It’s just that I am afraid that if I do not do everything myself that it won’t get done… .Sure, Jesus can be my Savior, but will I let Him be my Lord?
30 Apr
Facebook and the Incarnation
I have a twenty-something friend who recently declared that a single event signaled Facebook’s imminent demise: his mother friended him.
Bizarre annoyances are nothing new for Facebook. How many times must I hit ignore in response to a barrage of loony requests? No, thank you, I don’t want to be a pirate or join in a snowball fight or poke anyone with a broccoli stalk or plant a geranium in someone’s (virtual) garden. However, this motherly intrusion unnerved my friend on quite a different level - his virtual reality collided with real life in disturbing ways.
24 Apr
I’ll Do It! …Later
I don’t have what you’d call a “driven” personality. My motto is: Why put off until tomorrow what you can put off indefinitely? Over the years I have tested my dad’s patience many times with my token phrase: “I’ll do it later….” I thought I was getting by just fine with this approach to life until last year, during my second semester of college. That was a time when my dad would say: Justice is sweet.
23 Apr
Empty Vessels
“‘Go and borrow empty containers from everyone—from all your neighbors. Do not get just a few. … pour oil into all these containers’. … When they were full, she said to her son, ‘Bring me another container.’ But he replied, ‘There aren’t any more.’ Then the oil stopped.”
2 Kings 4:3-4, 6
Empty is an adjective. Empty jars. Empty hands. Empty hearts. Empty pages. Hollow, aching, empty vessels … waiting to be filled, waiting for rain from heaven, waiting for oil from God’s provision. Yet, isn’t that just what a useful vessel should be? Empty? How can a jar hold oil unless it is empty? If hands and hearts are hanging on to material things, they cannot be held by the love of God. If it is already full, a page cannot be written upon. That is why Elisha told the widow to ask for all the empty jars she could find. He wanted her to be able to receive as much of God’s blessing as she could hold. As soon as she ran out of empty containers, the oil stopped flowing.
14 Apr
Play/Pause Syndrome
We are constantly bombarded with new technology that can distract, calm, invigorate, nurture, and brainwash us. It is a constant temptation, always right at our fingertips, always beckoning our attention. We have learned to juggle and multi-task to keep various technologies functioning at once. If that is too much of a challenge for us, we can always press the pause button. Pause the iPod, pause the movie, pause the television show. The pause function represents control over our intake and output. While we occasionally pause the technological stimuli from overloading our minds, we sometimes forget to do the same thing in our every day lives.
