TRIBESMAN: This man is sick because someone worked sorcery against him.
WESTERN DOCTOR: This man is sick from malaria because he was bitten by an infected mosquito!
TRIBESMAN: Yes, he was bitten by a mosquito — but who sent the mosquito?
[Unearthly Powers, 109]
Just as God kept saying in ancient times, so God keeps saying today: “I am with you in all the love and terror and pity and pain and wonder that is your life. I am with you. Are you willing to be with Me?”
- Richard Foster, Life With God, p. viii.
Gingy got this for us a while back. It’s awesome. Seriously. You should get it.
It helps with what I like to call “What-Do-We-Do-Now-Itis”. That’s when you’ve played with your toddler and your out of ideas. This book is teeming with them.
“Unplugged Play: No Batteries. No Plugs. Pure Fun.” (Bobbi Conner)
I am told, and I pay lip service to the fact, that the Christian “is a new creation” –that in some real but mysterious way he carries within himself a new life, Christ’s life. But how far I am from really accepting in heart and action the fact that every day I pass Christ in the street, ride with him on the bus, and serve him at the shop or in the office — and that I am charged with the privileged task of ministering to his growth in the souls of my brethren.
Paul Hilsdale, Prayers from Saint Paul
David Sills is on faculty at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Before SBTS, he served with the IMB in South America. But, more than all that, he’s a really cool guy. I led a group from 9th and O Baptist Church in Louisville, KY of which David was a part. We explored an area just outside the city of Cuzco called Anta.
David’s love for the Latin American people, wisdom in helping them connect with Jesus, and encouragement to me had a significant impact on me.
I’m excited about his new book. David deals with questions that a lot of people struggle with as they think about missions. Questions like . . .
Do all Christians have the missionary call?
How can you know whether you have the missionary call?
Is the missionary call a lifelong call?
How does being single impact the missionary call?
What should you do if your spouse does not share your sense of call?
You can find out a lot more about the book here. The Missionary Call is officially out in bookstores and online.
This is a great idea. I’ve been spending way too much time digging and nixing on the Capture Arkansas website. Have you heard about it?
Here’s the deal. Arkansas Democrat Gazette is putting out a book (and DVD) of photographs of Arkansas. And, anyone can be in the book. You just have to submit your photographs and see what happens. Even if your photos don’t get voted in, you get to help shape the book by voting on other folks’ photos.
You might have noticed a new widget to the right (go ahead, look). That’s a link to my photos. Give me some love if you like them (go ahead, click). Maybe I’ll make it in. And, if you submit some photos, leave me a comment so I can go vote for yours.
Henri Nouwen wrote in “The Way of the Heart”…
In solitude I get rid of my scaffolding: no friends to talk with, no telephones calls to make, no meetings to attend, no music to entertain, no books to distract, just me – naked, vulnerable, weak, sinful, deprived, broken-nothing. It is this nothingness that I have to face in my solitude, a nothingness so dreadful that everything in me want to run to my friends, my work, and my distractions so that I can forget my nothingness and make myself believe that I am worth something.
Marriage creates a situation in which our desire to be served and coddled can be replaced with a more noble desire to serve others — even sacrifice for others. This is a call for both husbands and wives.
The beauty of marriage is that it confronts our selfishness and demands our service twenty-four hours a day. When we’re most tired, most worn down, and feeling more sorry for ourselves than we ever have before, we have the opportunity to confront feelings of self-pity by getting up and serving our mate.
Gary Thomas, Sacred Marriage, 186.
In 1066 Norman armies under William the Conquerer successfully invaded England. That event was commemorated in the Bayeux Tapestry, a remarkably detailed record of the events of the campaign. One of its scenes depicts a column of Norman soldiers on horseback. They are followed by the bishop of Bayeux, who is busy poking the last man with a large stick. The caption to this little scene read: “Bishop Odo comforts the soldiers.”Most of us would feel that this is the sort of comfort that we could well do without! Yet the Greek word for “comfort” can bear the meaning “urge on” or “encourage to do greater things.” There is a sense in which the Spirit does prod us, encouraging and empowering us to do things we otherwise would not — and could not — do.
Allister McGrath, I Believe, 81
Honor isn’t passive, it’s active. We honor our wives by demonstrating our esteem and respect: complimenting them in public; affirming their gifts, abilities, and accomplishments; and declaring our appreciation for all they do. Honor not expressed is not honor.
Gary Thomas, Sacred Marriage, 63.