i phone photo of the "Ladera Ranch Valley" taken on my run the other day.

Time

it is more often then not the the time in-between that is hard,
it is the time not quiet here or there that is difficult.
when we are there, we tell ourselves, it will be easy
when we are there, we tell ourselves, i will know what to do.
but it is not easier
the answers are not there and the time has passed.
if we never lean into the time between we will never know what to do when we arrive.

every man is a dragon slayer inside his own mind, but if he does not practice, if he does not live outside his head, there will be no dragon, no battle, just more of the same and a loss of time.

Brilliant !

currently listening to David Wilcox streaming from his website in the "musical medicine" section. i think he is brilliant! i encourage all to check out his website, also brilliant. http://www.davidwilcox.com/index.php?page=cds&category=01--MUSICAL_MEDICINE

finished

just finished book resident aliens, i am now studying the Hebrew alphabet, i slipped out of the sunday night service for a bit last night to catch some of Donald Millers talk, purchased his book on CD and began listening to it last night. as well i have began reading a Great book on preaching by thomas long and now all thoughts are mixing together and my head is spinning with all sorts of good ideas that i can not seem to place together into a coherent thought, But if i Could i am sure that it would be REally Very Great thought indeed.

???

i wonder if i will ever be able to figure this out?

Sh!@#$!

as a parent you deal with a lot of crap, literal and figurative.
today i am dealing with the literal, loads of it.

Heschel

i started reading the first chapter of abraham joshua Heschel's book God in search of man today and found this quote "When religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion its message becomes meaningless." Heschel blames not secular science for religion loosing its voice but rather blames religion itself.

What is incarnational

What is incarnational ministry? There are probably a lot of ways to answer this question. There are also probably many subtleties to the full implications of what it might mean to be incarnational in any number of different contexts. Lately I have heard it discussed as the pastors role. Eugine Peterson in his book the contemplative pastor shares something of this idea with his commitment to not pastor a church larger than he can learn all the names. I have also heard of pastors criticizing video venues because there is not a live teacher pastor present. These two opinions of the way church should be or not be certainly have merit and should be considered for different reasons, but is that what it means to be incarnation? I think these ideas make one main mistake Which is underestimating the role of the entirety of the church. If we limit the continual in-fleshing of Christ to the world to the job of pastors than the world is not only going to get a very incomplete picture of Christ's love, we are also going to need way more pastors. It makes more sense that it is the priesthood of all believers living among all the world that will be the way in which the world might meet a picture of Christs love in fleshy for.

The end of the debate

the newly formed and long debated choice between being a missional or attractional church is dead. chances are that you are both, and that is good. further more the discussion has and is shifting, and it is landing on the realization that we are to be more incarnational in our understanding and praxis of church. the church is to be the person of the Church where they are and in so doing being Christ, or part of the body of Christ, or a representative of Christ,... to the people that exist within that persons influence. that does not meant he church should stop doing what it is doing but only continue to look forward with this understanding.

maybe?

new life !

Seems like the celebration of Easter is to short. It should continue on for more than just a weekend, I mean we did spend forty days getting ourselfs ready dident we? Bedsides celebrating new life should be the type of event that marks us in some way. Even new years seems to leave a more lasting effect on us when really make decisions to live differently should happen on Easter. Not just giving up somthing, that's lent, but maybe adding some good stuff as well.
any way somthing to think about.

shhh!

How is this for a Quote?
"The purpose of a fish trap is to catch fish and when the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten. the purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits when the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten. the purpose of the word is to convey ideas. when the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten. where can i find a man who has forgotten words? he is the one i would like to talk to."

Nar·cis·sism

1.excessive self-admiration and self-centeredness
2.in psychiatry, a personality disorder characterized by the patient’s overestimation of his or her own appearance and abilities and an excessive need for admiration.

In Greek mythology Narcissus was a youth who was punished for repulsing Echo’s love by being made to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool

Twitter/FaceBook:
social networking services that allows its users to post pictures, updates and thoughts about themselves for the world to see.

Trying Twitter

so i am trying twitter and apparently twitter can sink with blogger...? so... i am going to give blogging another shot as well. supposedly there is community and conversation to be found online and i am curious to see what it is all about.