Moving

…had a major glitch here on this blog and I contacted WordPress awhile back and it only got worse.  The time it was taking me to move around in my drafts and post anything new was too much to handle so I just decided to move.  Eventually I will move the posts here to the new address.

visit the new blog: Nullus Extra Cruem

Missing the Old Life

At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” 

Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.” ~John 6:66-69, NLT 

A headline a few days back on Yahoo’s homepage read “The president opens up about his toughest call and what he misses about his old life.” It got me to thinking…

 

Have you ever been on that vacation you would have just about given your right arm for (if you’re a lefty you get my drift) if it meant staying and not having to go back to the daily grind so soon?  I know we all say with Dorothy that there’s “No place like home” or “It’s so good to be home”, but I think it’s just a sales pitch to ourselves to soften the blow of having to leave a place we’d just assume we could throw away the key to and call heaven.  Home is swell, but I could get used to life on a golf course overlooking the ocean with five-star accommodations and my own personal chef real fast.   Maybe it’s that I’ve been on a few vacations over the span of my short lifetime that have ruined me I suppose (and yet, I’ve never been to any of the destinations you might name like Hawaii or Cancun).  I’ve discovered—even on the low budget trips I’ve been on—that once you’ve tasted prime rib, a hot dog never tastes quite the same (not sure what a vegetarian would compare?).  If you’ve ever had the thrill of driving an exotic sports car you know what I mean when I say that a Ford Focus with a spoiler and fancy chrome wheels doesn’t really compare.

Closer to Where I Started

the lyrics sort of remind me a little of what it means to walk with Jesus…  

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Desperate for changing
Starving for truth
I’m closer to where I started
Chasing after you
I’m falling even more in love with you
Letting go of all I’ve held onto
I’m standing here until you make me move
I’m hanging by a moment here with you   

Forgetting all I’m lacking
Completely incomplete
I’ll take your invitation
You take all of me now…    

…I’m living for the only thing I know
I’m running and not quite sure where to go
And I don’t know what I’m diving into
Just hanging by a moment here with you    

There’s nothing else to lose
There’s nothing else to find
There’s nothing in the world
That can change my mind…    

~from “Hanging By A Moment”, Lifehouse

Thoughts?

Foolishness

Note: I owe Pastor Matt Chandler in Dallas, Texas (who is currently recovering from brain surgery to remove a tumor) in part for sparking the following idea taken from a message he shared this past summer (Preaching the Gospel to the De-Churched)

For those of us who have been awakened to the gospel narrative, it all makes more than good and perfect sense.  But consider how it must sound to someone who’s eyes haven’t been opened to the truth found only in the gospel… it’s what Paul was sort of getting at when he wrote “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God (1 Cor. 1:18, NLT).”   

Imagine for a moment that you don’t know the saving grace of our Lord Jesus and ask a friend to explain the gospel and he says “Well, it starts with a virgin named Mary.  She was visited by an angel and told she would conceive a child by the Holy Spirit and to name him Jesus.  He’s then born in a stable with barn animals and laid in a feeding trough (a “manger” you might call it) instead of a crib for what was a pretty humble inaugural welcome to earth for the infant prophesied to be the Messiah.  He’s raised in a wood shop, the son of a carpenter named Joseph (but not biologically his father because his mom was a virgin).  At about 30 years of age Jesus is baptized in a river by his crazy cousin John (who eats locusts and honey and lives in the wild), signaling the beginning of his life work which would culminate about three short years later.