Pierced by the Word - a book

Recently I started this small book as part of my morning time with Jesus.  I'm also reading (again) through the Gospel of John but this time I'm using Steve's ESV version study bible.  What a big difference to have that slight change of wording and all the extra study notes on the scriptures!

The book by John Piper is really excellent and I'm mulling over blogging it as I have other materials I've read.  I'd probably have to re-start it to make some notes, or I can just wing it.  Each 'chapter' is very short - just 3 pages or so, but the material is EXCELLENT!  I really enjoy John Piper's teaching and his easy to read style.  The book is available many places obviously, but here is the amazon link just to make life easy.

Blessings on the journey~

Chapter 12 Lines

Chapter 12:  Normal at Last: Heaven

"All their life in this world... had only been the cover and title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before." ~C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle

p 225  No word in the English language moves the human heart in quite the same way as the word 'home'. Jesus recognizes that the deepest yearnings of the human heart - to belong, to be safe, to be prized - are really a yearning for heaven.  When we get there, it will not seem strange to us.  When we get there, we will say, "This is home."

My notes:  This chapter focused extensively on what the bible actually says about heaven  - most specifically from Revelation and John's vision of the throne room, Jesus, etc.   It also talks a bit about the fact that many of us have a seriously distorted view of heaven based on opinions and fantasy instead of what Scripture teaches.

This book was challenging in many ways and provided a lot of food for thought.  As a person who struggles seriously with what I term ' an over-developed sense of justice' coupled with a very low threshold for lack of common sense, the commands in scripture to love & forgive are some of the hardest ones for me to obey cheerfully, and completely.  I have been greatly encouraged by parts of this book as well though because it has afforded me the chance to see areas where God is growing me and changing my heart.  These things are always exciting to me.

I would absolutely recommend reading this book thoughtfully and honestly looking at how it speaks to your individual situation in conjunction with God's heart for forgiveness.

Blessings on the journey~

Chapter 11 Lines

Chapter 11: The Secret of a Loving Heart: Gratitude

p 205 The ability to assign value is one of the rarest and most precious gifts in the world.

p 213  The one who is forgiven much loves much.  The one who is forgiven little loves little.

p 213 (Here we are at the end of the retelling paraphrase of the story in Luke 7:36-50)  
There is a great sin defiling this room. It is the sin of lips that won't kiss, knees that won'd bed, eyes that will not weep, hands that will not serve, perfume that will never leave the jar.  It is the sin of a heart that will not break, a life that will not change, a soul that will not love.  The greatest command is the command to love.  The greatest sin is refusal to obey the greatest command.

p 214  We complicate our faith and lives in many ways, but at the core, our purpose is simple: we are called to love.

p 217 The ability to assign value is one of the rarest and greatest gifts in the world.
So value what God values. There is an ancient story about a poor traveler who is amazed by the welcome he receives at a monastery. He is served a lavish meal, escorted to their finest room, and given a new set of clothes to replace the rags he arrived in.  Before leaving, he commented to the abbot on how well he was treated.  Yes, the abbot said, we always treat our guests as if they are angels - just to be on the safe side.

Chapter 10 Lines

***my note: I found this chapter challenging because my personal experience has been that the church at large - (not all - but many) - seem to be far from Jesus' heart of community and love in how they operate on a usual basis.  

Chapter 10: Breaking down barriers: Inclusion

p 186 There are few joys in life like being wanted, chosen, embraced.  There are few pains like being excluded, rejected, left out.  At the core of Christian community is the choice, in the words of Miroslav Volf's great book* on the subject, between exclusion and embrace.

p 195 Jesus is the greatest bridger the world has ever seen.  When the church understood his heart, it became a community like nothing else the world has ever seen.

p 201  ... ultimately, the choice everyone faces is the choice between hope and despair.  Jesus says, "Choose hope."

p 202-203  The most desirable society in the universe turns out also to be the humblest and the least exclusive.  The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are determined that the circle of love they share from all eternity should be ceaselessly, shamelessly inclusive.  It is not full yet.  They invite all who will to join them. No one is left out except those who refuse to enter.



*Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996

Chapter 9 Lines

Chapter 9  The Gift Nobody Wants: Confrontation

p 169 "Nothing can be more cruel than the leniency which abandons others to their sin.  Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe reprimand which calls another Christian in one's community back from the path of sin." ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

p 169  This is a foundational paradox about the porcupines in our world; we want to know the truth about ourselves, and we want very much NOT to know the truth about ourselves. We both seek and resist awareness about the reality of who we are.

p 171  We need Truth-Tellers because our capacity to live in denial is astounding.

p 171  Many of us have never invited someone else to be a Truth-Teller in our lives for the same reason we don't get on a scale: we are afraid of what we might find out.

p 172  "One who because of sensitivity and vanity rejects the serious words of another CHristian cannot speak the truth in humility to others. Such a person is afraid of being rejected and feeling hurt by another's words.  Sensitive, irritable people will always become flatterers, and very soon they will come to despise and slander other Christians in their community... When another Christian falls into obvious sin, an admonition is imperative, because God's Word demands it.  The practice of discipline in the community of faith begins with friends who are close to one another. Words of admonition and reproach must be risked." ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

p 173  We need others to help us live up to our best intentions and deepest values.

p 179  There is a very important theological distinction between being a prophet and being a jerk.  What burns deeply in the heart of a true prophet is not just anger but love.

p 179  Accountability is a tool and a gift we give to one another to try and realize the growth we could never know all by ourselves.

p 180  Let us consider the cost of truth-telling and why it happens so rarely in our world.  the answer, simply, is fear.  It takes enormous courage to be a Truth-Teller.  If we speak painful truth to someone, things get messy.

p 180  Scott Peck says that most of the time we live in what he calls 'pseudo-community'.  It's hallmark is the avoidance of conflict  Pseudo community is agreeable and polite and gentle and stagnant - and ultimately - fatal.

p 181  To go beyond pseudo-community, Peck says, we have to be will to enter into chaos.  Chaos happens when someone is willing to speak risky truth.  Chaos is always unpleasant.

p 181  People who love authentic community always prefer the pain of temporary chaos to the peace of permanent superficiality.

p 183  When we have nobody to answer to - no one holding us accountable for living up to the values we most deeply hold - we become very vulnerable.
   *vulnerable to sin and sliding away from God (my note)

Chapter 8 Lines

Chapter 8  Spiritual Surgery: Forgiveness

p 151  Community always involves a kind of promise, whether or not it ever gets stated out loud.  It is a promise of commitment and loyalty.  When that promise gets broken, so does someone's heart.

p 152  Forgiveness is the only force strong enough to heal relationships damaged by hatred and betrayal.

p 156   But forgiveness does not come cheap.

p 157   Some things forgiveness is NOT:
             1. Forgiving is not excusing - forgiving doesn't mean tolerating or pretending.  When an action is excusable - it doesn't require forgiveness.
             2. Forgiving is not forgetting - forgiving is what's required precisely when we can't forget.
             3. Forgiving is not the same thing as reconciling.

p 158   Forgiveness takes place in the heart of one human being. It can be granted even if the other person does not ask for it or deserve it.  Reconciliation requires the rebuilding of trust, and that means good faith on the part of both parties.

p 158   Forgiveness begins when we give up the quest to get even. This is difficult because getting even is the natural obsession of the wounded soul.

p 159  Of course, letting go of vengeance doesn't mean letting go of justice. Justice must still be honored.

p 159  The next stage of forgiveness involves a new way of seeing and feeling. When we forgive, we begin to see more clearly. We don't ignore the hurts, but we see beyond them. We rediscover the humanity of the one who hurt us.

p 160  The third stage of forgiving, the one that shows you have begun to make some real progress, is when you find yourself wishing the other person well. When you want good things for someone who hurt you badly, you can pretty much know that the Great Forgiver has been at work in your heart.

p 160  God commands us to forgive because it is the best way to live. God commands forgiving because to refuse to forgive means I allow the one who hurt me to keep me chained in a prison of bitterness and resentment.  No human beings are more miserable than the unforgiving.

p 164  If you don't forgive - if you let pride, resentment, stubbornness, and defensiveness stand in your way - you become a hard and bitter person.  You carry a burden that will crush the humanity out of your spirit.  You will grow a little colder every day.  You will die.

p 165  True forgiveness is never cheap.  Hurt is deep; hurt is unfair. ... only one thing costs more than forgiving someone - NOT forgiving them. Non-forgiveness costs your heart.

p 166  Don't forgive, and your anger will become your burden. Don't forgive, and bit by bit all the joy will be choked out of you. Don't forgive, and you will be unable to trust anybody, ever again. Don't forgive, and the bitterness will crowd the compassion out of your heart slowly, utterly, forever.

Chapter 7 Lines

Chapter 7  Community is worth fighting for: Conflict

"Communities need tensions if they are to grow and deepen. Tensions come from conflicts...  A tension or difficulty can signal the approach of a new grace of God. But it has to be looked at wisely and humanly. " ~Jean Vanier

p 127  There is no greater challenge in building community than to master the art of handling anger and conflict.  ..we must consider how important this topic is in God's eyes. It is both remarkable and appalling that by and large in churches today, we are not scandalized by broken relationships and chronic enmity between people.  We are not scandalized by lack of love.
But Jesus is.

p 128  We have been invited into the Fellowship of the Trinity. When we violate oneness, when we contribute to relational brokenness, it doesn't just affect us and the other person.  We are contributing to the destruction of that which is most prized by God and was purchased by him at greatest cost - the oneness of the Trinitarian community.

p 130  Matthew 18:15 may be the single most violated of all the instructions Jesus gave the human race.

p 131  To be alive means to be in conflict.  It's part of the dance of the porcupines. People may not be normal, but conflict surely is - at least in our world.

p 132  Interestingly, while Jesus tells his hearers they should take the responsibility to set things right if the other person has sinned, in another setting (Matt 5:23-24) he tells his hearers to take the first step if they are the ones in the wrong.  Jesus puts the burden on you in both cases.
Why?  Because people who value community are people who own responsibility to deal with relational breakdowns.

p 132  "Go" Jesus says. Take action. Don't let resentment fester.

p 133  Anger exists to tell you something is wrong and to move you to action.  Anger exists so you will be motivated to make it go away.  However, remember Proverbs 14:17 and Ephesians 4:26.

p 134-135 Causes of our anger? Fear? Frustration? Hurt? What outcome do we want? to win? to hurt someone?

p 136  Sometimes you should become angry. However even then you still must decide how to express your anger.

p 138 Conflict is inevitable. Resentment is optional.

p 139  The need for sensitivity is one of the most important - and often misunderstood - aspects of healthy anger management.

p 141 The simplest guideline is to approach the other people the way you would want to be approached in their place.

p 142  We must speak truth in love - clearly.

p 143  The goal in conflict resolution is not to win or score points - it's reconciliation.  Your aim should be to restore the relationship.  Reconciliation is rarely simple and almost never quick.

p 144  Direct confrontation doesn't always do good.  Sometimes it escalates the conflict. Sometimes it leads to violence. Confrontation can do tremendous damage. Then we need a miracle.  God created one.  It's called forgiveness - that's in the next chapter.

Chapter 6 - Lines

Chapter 6 The Art of Reading People: Empathy

p 108  Researcher Daniel Stern calls the ability to read and respond well to someone's heart attunement. Relationally intelligent people are geniuses at it.

p 108 One dangerous aspect of this skill is that, generally, people who don't read others well aren't aware that they don't.  It is like being emotionally tone-deaf.

p 109 The good news is that relational intelligence can be learned. Develop this skill, get it right, an you will have opportunities to influence, comfort, challenge, and love people on a regular basis.

p 112  The New Testament writer James says, in one of the most often violated commands in all scripture, that everyone should be "quick to listen, slow to speak." Listening, writes Daniel Goleman, is the single most important relational skill a person can develop.

p 113  It is no accident that we speak of paying attention to people, attention is the most valuable currency we have.

p 113 ...one hunger is universal. You have never met a person who doesn't long for more joy. WH Auden wrote, "Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh."

p 115  A friend of mine says that one of the hardest things in the world is to be right and not hurt anybody with it.   (OOOOOOHHHH)

p 116  It's an amazing truth: Being fully right rarely brings as much life to people as simply being human.
People are hungry for joy bringers.

p 117  If you are part of a family, friendship, club, organization, department, small group, or church, you are part of what Daniel Goleman calls an "emotional economy".  Every single interaction we have with another person involves not simply exchanging information or performing tasks but also influencing each other's moods and attitudes.  The emotional economy is "the sum total of exchanges of feeling among us."

p 121  Deep in the heart of everyone you work with, play with, live with, is a sign, if only you will take the time to read it: "Inspire me. Challenge me to grow and then celebrate with me when I stretch. Help me shoulder whatever burden life throws my way."

p 123-124  You are a guardian of the human spirit.  You have the power to manipulate and coerce if you want to. You can avoid and ignore if you choose. But you can also ennoble and inspire. You can lift up and appeal to all that is good and honorable and holy. You can remind fallible and finite people around you that they hold their lives and calling as a sacred trust, that their best efforts matter, that their worst failures will one day be redeemed.
This is all because of the Crucified One who shouldered the burden of the whole human race, who rose again, will come back one day to honor all that is good and set right all that has gone wrong.

Chapter 5 - Lines

Chapter 5  Put Down Your Stones: Acceptance

p 89  You and I were made to be in the life-saving business. Mostly the life lines we have to offer are words.  Every word we speak has the power either to give a little life to people or to destroy a little bit of their spirit and vitality.

p 94  We are most scandalized by sins of the flesh.  Jesus was most scandalized by sins of the spirit.

p 99  Condemnation and judgement have become so deeply rooted in the human spirit that most of us can't imagine having to function without them.

p 101  People need more than toleration.  Bertrand Russell wrote, "A sense of duty is useful in work but offensive in personal relationships. People wish to be liked, not to be endured with patient resignation."   (OUCH!)

p 101 Acceptance is an act of the heart. To accept someone is to affirm to them that you think it's a very good thing they are alive.

p 102  This is very important: acceptance is NOT the same thing as tolerating any behavior one chooses to indulge in. (emphasis mine) Accepting another human being does not mean we refuse to confront or challenge that in them which could harm others and damage their soul.
Failure to confront, to speak the truth in love, can ultimately be as fatal to community as judgementalism.

Chapter 4 - Lines

Part 2 - How to get close without getting hurt
Chapter 4 Unveiled Faces: Authenticity

p 69  The decision to sin always includes the thought that I cannot really trust God to watch out for my well-being.

p 72  [In the Fall] The man and the woman decide there is something they want more than community with God. They do not trust Him. They disobey. - sin always kills relationship.

p 74  To know and be known - which had always been the greatest joy of the human race - now becomes the greatest fear of the human race.

p78 Since we have the assurance of God's love no matter what, we can do a very bold thing.  We don't have to pretend to be more radiant than we really are.  We can live with "unveiled faces". (reference to Moses)

p 80  The irony of the masks is that although we wear them to make other people think well of us, they are drawn to us only when we take them off.

Self-disclosure has enormous power.

p 81  Jesus lived a common life.  He let his friends see him in unveiled moments of joy, sadness, anger and fatigue.

p 83  Sin causes us to seek hiddenness and separation, which in turn destroy community.  In confession, we enter back into community.  We come out of hiding. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, "If a Christian is in the fellowship of confession with a brother, he will never be alone again, any where."

p 86  In real life we live in a fallen world. We all fall, we fall often, and sometimes hard.  If we try to handle our fallenness on our own, if we try to keep it secret, eventually it will destroy us.  God has made a better way. He has formed a community in which people can live with unveiled faces. It really is possible to do life without hiding. All it takes is trust.

**this last point is so HARD!  Trust is hard, and living unveiled is hard.  Especially when or if you feel that you are one of very few doing so or if others around you seem uninterested, unwilling, or simply too busy to bother with another person... even a fellow Jesus follower.

Chapter 3 - Lines

Chapter 3: The Fellowship of the Mat: True Friendship

p 46  Psychologist Alan McGinnis notes that rule number one for entering into deep friendships sounds deceptively simple: Assign top priority to your relationships.

p 46  If you think you can fit deep community into the cracks of an overloaded schedule - think again. Wise people do not try to microwave friendship, parenting, or marriage.

p 48 Jean Vanier writes, There is no ideal community. Community is made up of people with all their richness, but also with their weakness and poverty, of people who accept and forgive each other, who are vulnerable with each other. Humility and trust are more at the foundation of community than perfection.

p 52 There is a world of difference between being friendly to someone because they're useful to you and being someone's friend.

p 55  Do you have any idea what the faith of one person can do for a friend?

p 57  Paul Waddell writes, "In spiritual friendship, the principal good is a mutual love for Christ and a desire to grow together in Christ. This is what distinguishes spiritual friendships from other relationships."

p 59  Dallas Willard ~ "To understand Jesus' teachings, we must realize that deep in our orientations of our spirit we cannot have one posture toward God and a different one toward other people."

p 61  There is no gift like the gift of community.

Beginning More Lines

I am one of those readers who makes notes and copies down lines when I read something that I'm trying to study.  I find it helpful to use the old fashioned method of paper & pen (or pencil) to write things out long-hand to drive home points that touch me as I read.  This series of posts will be a collection of the notes, quotes, lines, etc. from my reading of the book by John Ortberg, Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them.  This is just one of several books I have read, am reading and have stacked up to read  - all relating to living life as part of God's community of believers and the world at large.  This is a journey of discovery and change and is, quite honestly, hard & painful at times.

So ... here goes.

Part 1: "Normal: There's No Such Thing, Dear"
Ch. 1: The Porcupine's Dilemma
"To make a start where we are, we must recognize that our world is not normal, but only usual at present." ~Dallas Willard

p.14  When you deal with human beings, you have com to the 'as-is' corner of the universe. We are tempted to live under the illusion that somewhere out there are people who are normal. When we enter relationships with the illusion that people are normal, we resist the truth that they are not. One of the great marks of maturity is to accept the fact that everybody comes 'as-is'. 

p. 15  Of course, the most painful part of this is realizing that I am in the 'as-is' department as well.  ... the writers of Scripture insist that no is "totally normal" - at least not as God defines normal. (see Isaiah 53:6 and Romans 3:23) 

p. 16 Because we know in our hearts that this is not the way we're supposed to be, we try to hide our weirdness.  Everyone of us pretends to be healthier and kinder than we really are; we all engage in what might be called "depravity management."

p. 18  And yet... the yearning to attach and connect, to love and be loved, is the fiercest longing of the soul.

p. 19  "The natural condition of life for human beings is reciprocal rootedness in others." ~Dallas Willard

p. 20 "Whoever cannot stand being in community should beware of being alone." ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

p. 25  This is a book about how imperfect people like you and me can pursue community with other imperfect people.

So it begins... and I have the strong sense that I'm going to learn a lot.  There are personal reflection questions at the end of each chapter, which I'm attempting to answer for myself in my journal, but I'm not willing to share here on the blog.  Some things are private and the internet is most definitely not.

Blessings on the journey~

Halfway through 2014

We are half-way through 2014 and WOW has it seemed to fly by so far!  July 1st already!

It's been a pretty busy year with more changes than I can remember, but generally it has been a really great year for our family.  We have seen God moving and growing/changing us all, which is always a very cool thing to see even when it doesn't especially feel comfortable.

Right now we are in the midst of a pretty ambitious home-improvement project to benefit J&B and their friends.  I'm pretty astonished at what has been accomplished in about a month's time - mostly by the efforts of my most awesome and amazing husband with some handy help from B and his friends and a bit of painting on my part.   Big reveal will come when we are done.

I haven't forgotten about the book study posting, just slow going as I've been doing a lot of other reading as well lately.  I finished Love Does by Bob Goff and was blown away, challenged, and encouraged.  I would put it on your 'must read' list if you have such a thing.  I also read Notes from a Blue Bike by Tsh Oxenreider and would recommend that as well, though I do disagree with her claim that it is absolutely needful to travel outside the country with your family... I'm not a big traveler anyway and have pretty much no desire at all to leave the country.

Blessings on the journey,

New Book Study...more lines!

Quick back story...
We moved in part because we craved small town living... and hoped to discover the lost art of community.   We also left our church after 10 years in large part due to the serious lack of genuine community & depth of relationship.  In recent months God has been speaking into our lives loudly on this topic.
I read a great book called

Authentic Relationships: Discover the Lost Art of One Anothering by Wayne Jacobson.

Then we did a study at a local church called "Christian" by Andy Stanley - which was truly excellent. (The link takes you to the YouTube playlist of all the sessions)

This week I began a new book study and have begun again making lots of notes of the lines that speak to me most loudly.  So those I will share in coming posts along with anything of note that I am learning and changing in my own life.
This is the book:

Blessings on the journey~

Prayer View

I took this photo one morning as I sat by the stove doing my 'quiet time' over scripture and a bible study book.
The light filtered through the curtain as the sun came up burning gold and orange and I was thinking that day how God's mercies are new every morning, regardless of the view out my window.

Over the past few weeks I've been wrestling with some weighty thoughts and struggling to make sense of my emotions regarding changing relationships and to do lists and politics and budgets.  So many things swirling in my head that the noise is deafening at times and I just want to sit and be still under a blanket by the stove.  My mornings in the chair with a Bible (or a kindle) on my lap, sometimes a cat as well - are quiet and still and sometimes I hear from God there and other times the noise in my head drowns out what He is trying to teach me.  I know this and sometimes I can quiet the noise enough to hear and other times I just pray - "God - you know what I need, I can't be still, help!"
Thankfully, I belong to a Savior who is beyond patient with me... and slowly... slowly... the noise in my head is becoming less of a roar.  If he can calm the storm of wind and waves - I'm sure he can handle me and whatever little emotional hurricane is whistling through my head.  And for this truth I am most grateful.
We've now been a year in our new home and I've decided that there are some perks to moving where things are still somewhat familiar.  To be true there are LOTS of new things in our lives, but simple things like the fact that I still shop at the same grocery store chain and big things like the fact that our dearest family friends are right here in town, have made moving so much easier!
We are in a season of learning how good/strong community and healthy/helpful relationships are formed and what that looks like in real life, small town, friends, etc.  I'm reading a really tremendous book right now, Authentic Relationships by Wayne Jacobsen & Clay Jacobsen.  I'm certain God is going to use it in a powerful way for me.

One truth that I learned this week was that I can't be restrictive in my head about how God is going to answer prayer in my life.  I can't be so narrow in my view of what He can/will do that I don't see him using the unexpected to answer prayer - He will do what He will do and I can't say 'do it my way'.... well, I can say that, but I'm very likely going to miss His answer in my stubbornness and pride.
For a long time I'd been praying that God would send my kids good friends and put people in their lives that would walk alongside them in their faith journey, people that loved Jesus and would be encouraging, helpful, and fun.  It took a lot of years and a move to Temple for God to answer - a completely unexpected means of making His answer known, but He is faithful and he DID answer.
We are in a season of praying over several other things and seeking God's answers for us... I'm sometimes slow to learn, but am confident of the fact that He will answer us in His time and I just want to make sure that I'm watching for and aware (as much as I can be) of every means of His provision for our family.

Blessings on the journey~

Lines of Truth (7)

Chapter 7     Security    Psalm 125

pg 81  "Better than a city wall, better than a military fortification is the presence of the God of peace."

In all the ups and downs of Israel's history - they are always God's people.  God is there - always - regardless of how we feel or what we choose.  Our security lies in who God IS, not in what we feel.

pg 83  "Discipleship is a decision to live by what I know about God, not by what I feel about him or myself or my neighbors.

Evil is never permanent, it is always temporary.  It may be long in our view, but we have the promise of 1 Cor. 10:13.  God will not allow more than he will allow and He is always faithful and will provide for us.

pg 85  "Discipleship is not a contract in which if we break our part of the agreement, he (God) is free to break his; it is a covenant in which he establishes the conditions and guarantees the results."

Matt 6: 25, 31, 34 - our life with God is secure.

Lines of Truth (6)

A Long Obedience in the Same Direction (purchase here)

Chapter 6   Help

Psalm 124  (New International Version) 

 A song of ascents. Of David.

¹ If the Lord had not been on our side—
    let Israel say—
² if the Lord had not been on our side
    when men attacked us,
³ when their anger flared against us,
    they would have swallowed us alive;
⁴ the flood would have engulfed us,
    the torrent would have swept over us,
⁵ the raging waters
    would have swept us away.

⁶ Praise be to the Lord,
    who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
⁷ We have escaped like a bird
    out of the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
    and we have escaped.
⁸ Our help is in the name of the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

p. 67  God is on our side, God is our help

p. 69  God's help is not a private experience, it is a corporate reality - not an exception among isolated strangers, but the norm among the people of God.

p. 70  Don't hesitate to ask hard questions of teh scriptures - doubts & questions must be asked & wrestled with in the light of disbelief & be overcome by the truth of God so we can believe solidly in the truth of God's word always.  The Psalms show us 'warts & all religion", not just the pretty surface stuff.

p. 74  "In the details of the conflict, the majestic greatness of God becomes revealed in the minuteness of a personal history.  Faith develops out of the most difficult aspects of our existence, not the easiest."

p. 75  "We are traveling in the light, toward God who is rich in mercy and strong to save.  It is Christ, not culture, that defines our lives.  It is the help we experience, not the hazards we risk, that shape our days."

Lines of Truth (2)

  A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson is a study through several Psalms that are known as "The Song of Ascents", specifically Psalm 120 through 134. 

Chapter 2 - Repentance - Psalm 120

p 21  A person has to be thoroughly disgusted with the way things are to find the motivation to set out on the Christian way.
Psalm 120 is the song of such a person - the cry of pain that penetrates through despair & stimulates a new beginning ~ a journey to God which becomes a life of peace.

p 24  "The truth about what is wrong with the world is that I and the neighbor sitting beside me have sinned in refusing to let God be for us, over us and in us.  The truth about what is at the center of our lives and of our history is that Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross for our sins and raised from the tomb for our salvation and that we can participate in new life as we believe in him, accept his mercy, respond to his love, attend to his commands."

p 25-26  Repentance is not an emotion.  It is not feeling sorry for your sins.  It is a decision.  Repentance is a decision to follow Jesus Christ and become His pilgrim in the path of peace.

p 29  Repentance is the first word in Christian immigration and sets us on the way to traveling in the light. It is a rejection that is also an acceptance, a leaving that develops into an arriving, a no to the world that is a yes to God.

In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.  ~Psalm 120:1
If I am honest - I know that only the Lord will ALWAYS answer when I cry out to Him. 

Lines of Truth

I am a collector of words... I love books, and I love to make notes when I read especially marvelous books.  There is something about the copying or re-writing of things that strike a chord that seems almost impossible to resist.  As such, I have pages of notes, journal books, and random single sheets of paper floating about that contain words and phrases - snippets of wisdom - verses of scripture - lines from books - some verbatim quotes, some paraphrases. 
There are times when I am utterly convinced that the simple act of putting pen to paper to personally scribe the wisdom I hope to add to my already cluttered brain will make the difference.  Sometimes it does... sometimes it doesn't.  There are days when the scrawl is illegible and days when the loops and flow of ink are beautiful.  I've been doing this for as long as I can remember.

I have decided that I'm going to share my collected lines from  A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson, as I go along through the book.  I failed when I attempted to blog through Ann Voskamp's book because I was attempting to answer questions in a reader's guide.  I think that it was because I wasn't simply going with what I felt was important - if God is dealing with me over something, or trying to teach me a lesson... that is what I will be drawn to write down.  In the act of typing/writing these again, perhaps they will etch deeper into my labyrinth of gray matter and remain.

Chapter 1 - Discipleship
**note - some things are directly quoted, others are paraphrased or my take - page #'s are noted where I have them in my notes.
- harmful to Christians is the assumption that anything worthwhile can be acquired at once - the assumption that if something can be done at all, it can be done quickly and efficiently  (pg 11)
- there is a great market for religious experience - but there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue and little inclination to sign up for the long apprenticeship in holiness  (pg 12)
- "The essential thing 'in heave and earth' is... that there should be long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living." ~Friedrich Nietzche (pg 13)

Disciple - people who spend our lives apprenticed to our master, Jesus Christ
Pilgrim - people who spend our lives going someplace ~ going to God by the path of Jesus.

Theme Reading

I'm reading several books at the moment...nothing new there.  But there is a theme in my reading right now... discipleship.  What does it mean to really be a follower of Jesus. 

Two of the books that I'm reading right now are proving tremendously helpful, instructive, convicting, insightful and comforting.  Sound conflicting & confusing?  You ought to live in my head! Kidding!  There are enough people in their right now to populate a small town - no more vacancies.

Anyway - I'm reading these:

Cost of Discipleship is a 'classic' among many in the Christian community.   I'd been listening to an audio version but really wanted to have the hard copy in my hands to absorb better.  I borrowed it through inter-library loan... hoping to keep in for a few weeks to really get a good grasp and not just a read-through.

This book was recommended by Shaun Groves a while ago... I got a copy and it sat on my shelf for a while.  I started it a few weeks ago and have been going through it slowly.  It's amazing.

Happy reading!

Blessings on the journey~