Tag Archives: Christianity

Slow Down to Notice…on a Road Trip

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Barns of Passing Time

I have a hobby of taking photos from a moving automobile. Like the one above of a barn and homestead with a for sale sign in front view. I can only imagine how many memories and stories that have been noticed in that home or the life that fed that old barn’s history…stories and words wrapped up and knotted deep into a legacy.

Slow Down to Notice

So I take a photo from a moving automobile because I slow down to notice this image of a story that is posted for sale. It’s there, off the road where it’s waiting to be noticed, captured and remembered.

Recently, my husband and I packed the car for a long road trip to home. It was pleasant to be the passenger with my main man and talk about our kids, our grandkids, life, work, politics…we talk about our parents that are living and the ones that have passed to a better place. Memories are shared on road trips. Road trips give us time to slow down and notice, even while the pedal is to the metal.

We slow down on this road trip to notice each other through the stories we share. It’s a verbal embrace. There is a connection when we laugh at each other’s corny jokes or disagree with the other’s opinion about a politician’s decision.

When we slow down and notice someone by listening to spoken words, there will be community, friendship, and a feeling of being safe.

Road trips are good for this. He is not looking at me while I talk, yet he notices me.  He is listening to my words…my voice, my story. And when he shares a story, I may glance over at him, but mostly I’m looking out the window with my head leaning back and resting against the headrest…slowing down my thoughts to hear him and notice him.

It’s ironic that we own a house with a for sale sign in the front yard. Of course I know that bricks and mortar or beams of wood cannot contain life and stories but it’s the people with the stories that walk through an opened back door to have a cup of coffee at the kitchen table.

Slow down and notice them.

We may be selling a house but we are not selling the stories that happened in that house.

We’re on a road trip. We are slowing down to notice a lot more than just the two of us sitting in this car. We slow down to notice and talk about the goodness of God demonstrated everyday in our lives and the peace we have through Christ while enduring trials and a life transition.

When we slow down to notice…to remember the stories of God’s forever faithfulness to us, we are filled with awe and flooded with peace.

Stories are like a road trip. The years fly by at high-speed and there are twists and turns and potholes that slow us down. An unexpected and sometimes unavoidable crash stops us cold. We run out of gas. We have a flat tire. We need help with the repairs. We are forced to slow down and notice the grace and love from God, no matter what the circumstance.

So yeah, I want to slow down and notice my husband and family. I want to notice their stories and words, to embrace them and travel with them on a road trip wherever it may lead. I want to slow down and notice the beauty of God’s grace and his majesty…to hear his words. To be embraced and know that I am noticed by God.

The Truest Thing About You: Identity, Desire, And Why It All Matters by David Lomas [Book Review]

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The Truest Thing About You Book

This is a book review for “The Truest Thing About You” by David Lomas. Publisher: David C. Cook. 

If you’ve ever felt deflated or discouraged by who you think you are, this book will give you the courage to look again. Take a good look at who you are and ask yourself, “What is the truest thing about me?” It is what I do? Is it what I’m good at? Is it who I know?  Have you ever stood before a mirror, gazing at your reflection and asked, “Who am I?”

The human condition is to cling to true things about ourselves that simply aren’t that true. We elevate things that are merely true–or half-true, or true some days but not others–to the level of “truest.”  Depending on our environment, we define ourselves differently to different people.

When will you ask the most important question…”What does God say is the truest thing about me?” [1]  

In The Truest Thing About You, David Lomas cuts to the core about where your true identity should reside and rips through any identity crisis you struggle with…those lies you’ve come to believe in order to embrace the truer and more beautiful image of yourself.

When it comes to an identity crisis, the shift from swimming to drowning isn’t always sudden. Major life changes can be as traumatic to your sense of identity as a shark attack–but sometimes all it takes is the hint of a cramp or the tug of a current. [2]

Simply said, I like this book. There are a few chapters that tug at emotions and memories and tear ducts. I plead guilty with having an identity crisis…finding security in work and family. I’ve experienced a “shark attack” in both work and with a family loss.

How do you think you would respond in a sudden shift in life? Where is your identity anchored?

There is a fundamental difference between who we are and what we do. [3] What we have–or don’t have–is not the truest thing about us. [4] But what if we desire the wrong things, and find ourselves with the wrong identity, surely all we have to do is desire better things…right?

Not so fast.

This book is a rewarding read because it spells out where to go to find the truest thing about you. Desiring the “better things” and running after that will not satisfy you. It is your view of Jesus that shapes your identity.

How does your view of Jesus shape your identity?  How does your view of Jesus bring into focus the truest thing about you?

Everything!

David Lomas invites you to discover and live out the truth of who God created you to be: you are loved, you are accepted, and you are made in God’s image.

One of the most memorable pages to read was the introduction by Francis Chan. The essence of this book is to dwell on the promises of scripture. God promises an internal change that takes place in those who trust in Christ, and take hold of that identity, our actions begin to happen naturally–or supernaturally. [5]

The book has eight chapters and is 210 pages long. The author includes biblical insights and personal narratives that resonates with the reader. It is documented with cross-references from bible passages and narratives from classics, such as C.S. Lewis’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. (Chapter 5…one of my favorite chapters in the book.)

Read The Truest Thing About You and share it with a friend to form a Jesus based identity in our world…the truest thing about you.

[1] page 21 | [2] page 32 | [3] page 37 | [4] page 42 | [5] page 16

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255

Thoughts About Easter

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Easter Thoughts

The day had been planned. She wakes up early before the sun has brightened the sky. Her heart is broken. She is weary from grief and each time she closes her eyes, she has the mental images of Jesus being tortured and brutally crucified. There is no rest from her sorrow. Mary is approaching the tomb in the dark hours of the early morning. She sees that the large rock, sealing the tomb where Jesus is buried has been moved! The tomb is opened!

I think she reacted like I would have…with panic! Confusion! Doubt! Unbelief!

Based on what she saw, she quickly surmised that, “They have taken his body away!” Mary completely forgot what Jesus promised he would do on the third day. She turns and quickly runs to find her friends. I imagine her running on a dirt path as fast as she possibly could, stumbling over rocks, tired, sweaty and breathless. Her friends, Peter and John listened as she told them, “They have taken his body away!” and they too ran quickly to see for themselves.

Peter and John looked inside the tomb…they  went inside the tomb and they believed. They saw with their eyes and they believed that Jesus rose from the dead. Even though they did not fully understand the things Jesus had told them before, they truly believed. They didn’t let doubt or unbelief cloud their vision. They believed that Jesus rose again from the dead, even if they could not totally grasp or understand all of it.

This is what I think… the stone that sealed the tomb was rolled away not for Jesus to get out but for us to look in! 

I imagine them walking away from the tomb quite dumb founded but with a heightened adrenaline surge to do something! What ever that something was, is most likely what they were talking about as they walked away and left Mary alone at the tomb.

Alone, so she thought. Crying and somewhat timid, she walked over to the tomb. I don’t think I would have been brave enough to go inside a burial chamber either and would have done the same thing as Mary. Bend over, poke my head inside for a quick look-see! I’m sure her heart was beating fast. I wonder if she bumped her head at the opening of the tomb upon seeing two angels!  They proceeded to ask her why she was crying. “They have taken his body away!”

Mary saw the same thing as Peter and John. No, actually she saw more than they did. Mary had a conversation with two angels! Yet, Mary continued to make the wrong assumption and incorrect accusations. Mary doubted. She doubted and did not believe because she didn’t stop to think about the words Jesus had said to her before. Mary believed Jesus then, but she was not believing now.

And then she turns around and sees…a gardener?  No, it is Jesus but because her mind is clouded with doubt and unbelief, she does not recognize her beloved. He asks her the same question and she proceeds to plead with “the gardener” to tell her where Jesus’ body has been taken. She still doesn’t see.

Instead of answering her question, Jesus said her name, “Mary.”

I love this! Jesus called Mary by her name!  She immediately recognizes Jesus. She knows his voice. She hears him. She sees him. Mary believes! Jesus tells her to go…and she runs (much faster now, I imagine) to tell the others, “I have seen the Lord!”

This is what I think… Jesus speaks in to her unbelief. Jesus paid the ultimate price for her unbelief. 

I think it’s okay and good to look inside the empty tomb over and over again. Whenever I doubt that God loves me, I look inside that empty tomb. Whenever I doubt that I can trust God no matter what, I look inside that empty tomb. And when I don’t believe, I cry for Him to help my unbelief  while asking Him to forgive me for that unbelief. Jesus paid the ultimate price for that!

It is Easter morning, already! Let’s celebrate again and again! Let’s run and tell others, “I have seen the Lord!”

John 20:1-18 (ESV)

The Resurrection

20 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her,“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic,“Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

 

The Saturday Assortment #6

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The Saturday Assortment

The Saturday Assortment is a collection of unrelated and random things that I find interesting, challenging, motivating and sometimes quite out of the ordinary. It’s an assortment of things that caught my attention throughout the week. I bet you will find them equally engaging. Enjoy!

7 Common Energy and Time Wasters for Leaders —Ron Edmonson Staying on task is critical to being a good leader. Here are seven time and energy wasters to avoid.

Actually, it goes the other way. Wouldn’t it be great to be gifted? In fact... Always a good word from Seth Godin

Rebuilding With a Prayer Community —Jared Musgrove (The Village Church) With the ups and downs and stress of any job, in particular a church ministry, learn to pray, listen, and intercede with other. You need community.

How Andy Stanley and Tim Keller Preach with Non-Believers in Mind –Trevin Wax There’s no denying the significant differences between Andy Stanley and Tim Keller when it comes to theology and ministry. But we can learn from them both in how to respectfully engage the unsaved people in our midst.