Articles & Posts
A Fragrant Offering
Oh dear. I just got home from a family rest time during spring break. So wonderful. I had down time – actual true down time so had asked for book recommendations from friends. I’m a fiction girl primarily – needed a good story. Got some good recommends but as I had a lot of time, I ran out. Luke and I went to a bookstore to pick up a couple more each and after reading the cover, I bought, “The Girl Who Played with Fire” – the sequel to “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”. Not about vampires or witchcraft or werewolves…a mystery…a spy novel it said. OK then. Oh dear. About thirty years ago, our pastor gave a sermon warning us about the dangers of television. He was saying that watching just anything on it was like opening up a sewer pipe right into your home. THIRTY years ago! And what is it like now? When sex scenes, same sex scenes, murder, witchcraft, reality shows that manipulate and oh ….it’s getting worse. Ok, back to the much hailed, NY Times bestseller book. Well written - yes. Godless – yes. But even worse. At the beginning of the book the young 25ish woman heroine has a sexual liaison with a 16 year old boy for about 6 weeks. This is presented as a neutral thing. No, a good thing. Then the book turns to be about uncovering a sex trafficking ring back in Sweden. We are supposed to be shocked about the girls brought in for prostitution – ages 15 to 20. (We are shocked. Grieved.) But wait…what? It’s okay for a 25 year old woman to have sex with a 16 year old boy? What if it had been a 25 year old man with a 16 year old girl? The book continues…she meets up with an old girlfriend. Girl friend. And though the author does not go into sex details – they have their affair. Or maybe he does go into details. I don’t know. This is the point when the much hailed book went flying across the room. What are we reading? What are we watching? It MATTERS! What has become normal to our depraved, godless, searching, deceived, aching, fallen world? What has become normal to me? To you? Our last night away, our family went out to dinner to a hibachi restaurant. John had spent much time online researching a nice place to go and had chosen this. I was a little surprised. I think they’re fun and all but wasn’t so much in the mood to have dinner with a group of strangers. Hibachi restaurants are the ones with the grill in the center and the cooking, chopping, grilling is done miraculously, entertainingly in front of you. We were a party of 3. We would be sharing our table. (OK, sharing a table can be fun but honestly my last time at one of these restaurants was a surreal experience having been taken there by my well meaning aunt just hours after my mother passed away. The erupting onion volcano was lost on me. But that is another story.) So, we get there and are ushered to our table. We sit down. We are joined after a bit by a family of 5. The daughter sits next to me (18 years old), her fiancé next to her, then the younger brother and around the corner the parents. Hellos are exchanged. Then the fiancé and the girl begin to make out. Not just kiss. Make out. I mean it. At the table. In front of us. Did I mention the parents are sitting right there? Oh dear. We are stunned. What does one do? Say? John jokingly suggests they get a room. He then proceeds to engage them in conversation every time they begin to make out. Lots of conversation. We are looking forward to the food being served so they have something else to do with their mouths. John talks with the Dad about Wild at Heart…the evening progresses. I spend a bit of time talking with this little engaged girl with chipped blue nail polish on and she begins to tell me about a book she is writing. It’s about the end of the world. Well, not the end of the world, really, no. It’s about forgetting. People have all forgotten. I’m wondering what have they forgotten? Mores? Manners? Propriety? Holiness? ACK! Actually, I found the idea very interesting. Biblical even. Later, between embarrassingly long kisses…she confides in me that she thinks the world is getting worse. She’s 18. It is getting worse. But I’m kind of surprised that she has noticed. So, we hurry through our dinner…and when we get up to leave, John goes over to the parents…words are exchanged, book titles written down and the girl gets up to hug me good bye. Hug me goodbye? Just a snippet of our time. Just a few moments shared. Just me shaking my head and asking God, how am I supposed to live? And all at once I hear him. As salt and light. Being in the world but not of the world. Being intoxicatingly different. Fragrantly alluring. Unafraid and unabashed ofnot fitting in with the world and not sliding down the slippery slope but seeing it, recognizing it and offering a different way. Offering The Way. Offering Love. Offering Jesus. I need a new book.
Stasi Eldredge
So and So
“There is no defense against criticism except obscurity.” – Joseph Addison With at least 38,000 Christian denominations worldwide do you think there are some significant differences of opinion on a wide range of doctrinal topics? Does a 10 lb. bag of flour make a really big biscuit? Is the Pope Catholic? Do one legged ducks swim in circles? Does Windows have bugs? Did Clinton have sex with that woman? Do Bears….. howl in the woods? Is Ed “Too Tall” Jones too tall? Clearly there are essential beliefs that define and unite those committed to the Lordship of Christ and the truth of The Gospel. Those truths are so core that to not believe them is to posture one’s self outside the circle of Christianity. In addition to these essential beliefs are lesser issues or nonessential beliefs that believers may differ on. As the thousands of Protestant denominations attest, there are many… literally thousands of issues that Christians disagree on. Most of these are non-essential areas of belief and practice (important, passionately held convictions… but not definitively essential to the Christian faith such as the sequence of events preceding the Return of the Lord, the age of the earth, the role of women in the church, baptismal preferences, a wide range of life style issues, style of worship music, many political positions, etc.). Differences among Christians have always existed; however, most Christians ascribe to the maxim:”in essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things charity.” Or as Paul put it, Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. – Paul, Ephesians 4: 2-3. But some Christians don’t ascribe to that maxim. A passionate man writes me wanting to know Wild at Heart’s doctrinal position on….. so and so. He writes that, while he would like to attend one of our conferences, he will not give his time or money to any organization that doesn’t believe… so and so. Now, I genuinely respect a person’s convictions and passions. Some would criticize me for being too gracious, and while cheering on the diligent study of God’s Word and the formation of a Biblical Worldview/theology, I can get ruffled over the arrogance, mulish pharisaic spirit and the unloving posture some of us take over issues that are nowhere near the orbit of Christianity’s essential/core beliefs. (Note… i once was that guy!) I respond to his “concern” in trademark kindness and patience receiving an immediate curt reply from him rebuking my heretical minimizing of this issue. Breathe deep; come God… forgiveness, mercy, patience and humility fill me. Are there really thousands of essential… cardinal beliefs we must hold to hope for the salvation of God or to bear the mark “Christian”? Is it hundreds of non-negotiable doctrinal positions we must hold to? Is it scores of doctrines that, if not ascribed to, justify the hatred, cursing and judging of another under the guise of pursuing doctrinal purity? I think not. I think there are far less than many of us propose. The Apostles Creed or The Nicene Creed refer to relatively few... each essential, each to be held to passionately and defended vigorously, but in total, few in number. ”In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things charity.” Love God, live free! – Craig McConnell (for those familar with my blog… I’m mightily resisting the inclusion of a bunch of notes…errrr, “footnotes” here…)
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Craig McConnell
Cactus Flowers
It's spring break, and we are in the desert for a few days. Why? People who live at 7,000 feet don't ask. Because last week my yard got another 7 inches of snow; 3 more are due tonight. So, we ran away. To the desert. The desert was my great escape when I was living in Los Angeles. It was the only wildness you could get to in a couple hours. I spent a lot of time with God here. So did many of the early Christians. I love the beauty of the desert. Austere. Ascetic. Clean lines and simple, spare arrangements. Silence so deep your ears ring. Vastness, and in the next turn, intimate scenes. A Zen garden kind of beauty. Anyhow, I was walking this morning and found a barrel cactus with a beautiful ring of new yellow flowers around it's top, like a crown. Cactus don't bloom often; they certainly don't bloom for months and months like roses do. I love cactus. I especially love cactus in bloom. They arrest me. I'm not sure altogether why. But there is something about beauty in the midst of such harsh conditions that grabs my soul's attention. To see a circlet of flowers where there is normally a crown of thorns speaks poetic and symbolic volumes. As I walked away from my lingering look, I was wondering why the fascination with cactus flowers. The phrase came to me, "Even Here." Meaning, even here, in these conditions, where things like rattlesnakes and scorpions thrive, even here beauty asserts itself. It's sort of like nature saying, "It can be done." When life is harsh, beauty can still prevail. We need to know that. So God gives us, among many reminders, cactus flowers.
John Eldredge
Enjoy the Surf
My friend Sam sent me an email that simply said, “Take a minute out of your day when you can to let yourself enjoy this one." There was a link to a video. I just “enjoyed” it… It's five minutes and forty-nine seconds long, which is an eternity for some of us. I endured and was jumped by God. As it ended I was in tears wanting to live, wanting to overcome, wanting to rise above all the crap/wounds/obstacles/battles/lies/doubt/compromise that crowds my life. I want to be that guy! Five, ten minutes later I hear God say, “You are that guy. Enjoy the surf!” Enjoy the surf! When you can, take a minute and let yourself enjoy this. As soon as you finish, take all it stirred up to God. Let me know what you heard. – Craig McConnell Here's the link to the video.
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Craig McConnell
The Coveted Red Tricycle
For our Granddaughter’s third birthday we bought her The Coveted Red Tricycle. She called to thank us leaving a voice mail saying, “Thank you sooooo much, this is the bike I’ve always wanted”. I couldn’t help but contrast the desires a three year old has “always” had with the long cherished yearnings of a 54 year old? And whether or not the tricycle will be such a wonderful source of joy in a month or two. (read my blog titled "Matador" for a bit more on this theme) - Craig McConnell
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Craig McConnell
St Patricks Day!
Okay, I love this holiday. St Patrick was a warrior, sent into a raging pagan country to bring a Gospel of Life and Freedom. He gave the Irish a Story that put all other stories in context; he gave a passionate people a Gospel of the heart. He captured their love of nature and helped them see the Creator's heart. He understood the spiritual battle, and equipped them to fight it. Instead of leprechauns and shamrocks, I give to you today the "Daily Prayer" of St Patrick: St. Patrick's Breastplate I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through belief in the threeness, Through confession of the oneness Of the Creator of creation. I arise today Through the strength of Christ’s birth with his baptism, Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial, Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension, Through the strength of his descent for the judgment of Doom. I arise today Through the strength of the love of Cherubim, In obedience of angels, In the service of archangels, In hope of resurrection to meet with reward, In prayers of patriarchs, In predictions of prophets, In preaching of apostles, In faith of confessors, In innocence of holy virgins, In deeds of righteous men. I arise today Through God’s strength to pilot me: God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me, God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me, God’s word to speak for me, God’s hand to guard me, God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me, God’s host to save me From snares of devils, From temptations of vices, From everyone who shall wish me ill, Afar and anear, Alone and in multitude. I summon today all these powers between me and those evils, Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul, Against incantations of false prophets, Against black laws of pagandom, Against false laws of heretics, Against craft of idolatry, Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards, Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul. Christ to shield me today Against poison, against burning, Against drowning, against wounding, So that there may come to me abundance of reward. Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me. I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through belief in the threeness, Through confession of the oneness, Of the Creator of Creation.
John Eldredge
Body, Soul and Spirit!
The pace and the demands and the cares of life really seem too much for a person to handle; too much for me to handle. At least to handle well. Is this a new development, the fruit of living in a high tech, instant messaging, be connected with everyone, take the freeway, drive thru, microwave world? Or is this a fact of the human condition?. Both I think. We need Jesus. People need God. We always have. We always will. The pace and demands and cares of my life keep me from staying current with friends, bills, blogging, laundry and toilet paper. Yay that God is always, ALWAYS present and current and more than enough for all of us. I’ve been thinking about so many things lately, it’s hard to choose what to write about! How about the importance of realizing that we are body, soul and spirit. Each part matters. Intrinsically. Deeply. To God. To us. When we as people focus on one aspect as being much more important than another, we get stuck, we miss out, we get out of whack. Which means that we are usually, to some extent, always out of whack. Because we are continuing to grow in our wisdom and understanding and that is a very good thing! So hooray for grace. For ourselves. For others. There is mercy. Some in Christianity focus primarily on the soul. To the neglect of the spirit. Some in Christianity focus on the spirit to the extent that they diminish the soul. Some focus primarily on the body – and really get into trouble. Our bodies are vitally important. They are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Our bodies are God’s instrument of choice to bring himself. Our bodies matter! Our health matters. Our vitality, our strength, our rest, our taking care of ourselves. Our bodies are a great gift to us! Our souls matter. Our personalities and style of relating and emotions and minds and wills. God is transforming us. We want to cooperate here! We need to be self aware which is quite different from being self absorbed. God loves people. He likes variety and gave us emotions and laughter and love and desire and the ability to seek him. Our emotions are not meant to rule us nor torment us but they are a part of us! I like being happy much more than I like being sad but I wouldn’t give one up for the other. We are alive! This is the realm of friendship and relationships and the working out of our salvation! Does not God care immeasurably about these things? We do not want to neglect our souls! The spirit is where we are most connected to God in the Heavenly realms! We hear the voice of God, feel the nudging of the Holy Spirit, worship, pray, experience his presence and power in and through our spirits! We live in the natural realm but we live in the spiritual realm as well. The spiritual realm is the eternal one! The battle we are in is a spiritual one. Our spirits need to be quickened, awakened to the constant presence of the Holy Spirit – so that we can bring the Kingdom of God to this world of ours! How vitally important is that? Oh, there are many books to be read and written on this. We are an odd people, we humans. We are mysteriously made. Wonderfully. Beautifully. And God does not despise our humanity. He loves it. All of it.
Stasi Eldredge
Professor
I’m sitting up in the sound booth during one of our conferences as my mind begins to wander… I’m musing over how long it has been and how much I miss teaching on an ongoing basis. I’ve always viewed myself as a “pastor-teacher” and thought the full effect/ power of my life is most felt by those “sitting” under my tutelage over time. I don’t think my strengths are suited as a one hour shock-and-awe inspirational circuit speaker. So… in the midst of my fond remembrances of teaching, God nudges in and, like a good friend interested in my story asks, “When did you enjoy teaching most?” I’m grinning ear to ear with an immediate response. It was the college level theology courses I regularly taught at my church in LA. I’m beaming as I recall the seasons of waxing eloquent on Christology, Sanctification, Anthropology, and Harmitology… Yep… you bet I was feeling groovy passing out my 70 page syllabus chock full of enlightening insights, profound perspectives, implications and applications… oh, and a ton of footnotes noting alternative views with their pros and cons, rabbit trails, sources, exegetical notes etc. etc…. after all, any serious book of note on God has lots of footnotes!!! I loved it, loved it, loved it! It was thorough, commanding clarity on the cardinal doctrines of the faith… full of footnotes. And then, in a sagely all-knowing tone, the voice of a loving father God says, “Yeah… you were hiding” Pause. Silence. One thousand one, one thousand two… one thousand six, my smile is now a gawking opened mouth with furrowed brow and questioning eyes. He continues, “You loved it so much because you “found” validation there. Your syllabus and footnotes… your teaching was all a desperate strategy to win a little applause and fend off the haunting fear that you have nothing to say…. ” So I stroll through memory lane thinking back decades to my stint in seminary and how I wanted to get a Ph.D. convinced that Doctor Craig McConnell would unquestionably have something noteworthy to say… right? Heck, I’d be an expert in the study of God! I’d be someone. It’s taken a seven year hiatus from teaching to see, and it’s a bit embarrassing... a little tough to own one’s spiritual adultery, but here I was in the middle of a conference, admitting that one of my genuine strengths had been twisted into a godless quest for life… the abandonment of God for the affirmation of man. The blinded pursuit of a validation God alone can provide. Admiring my footnotes instead of crying out to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for the life I sought. I’m sober, repentant and feeling invited into a deeper dependence upon God. He’s smiling, I’m smiling and in an hour I’ll be speaking to 433 men. I'm no longer concerned whether or not I leave them smiling. I’m marveling at the times and places God “shows” up to deal with some issue of our soul. Then again I’m not surprised at all, He’s always present… longing to be our God and more than willing to disrupt us in our adulterous pursuits - Craig McConnell.
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Craig McConnell
Limping
I’m walking the dog this morning, trying to pray, when the memory comes suddenly and powerfully to my mind of being deeply hurt and misunderstood by a friend. And as if that isn’t enough, there is also the memory of deeply hurting her. This is an old memory. Here it comes again. Sheesh. Now there has been healing and forgiveness here and Jesus is the Lord of both of us. But the work is not yet complete. I wonder, will it ever be? Or is this sorrow just part of my story now, an addition to my already visible limp? Yah, I think it is. I will carry this with me. I pray to learn all God has to teach me through this experience and to know his healing and freedom even more deeply than I do today. And honestly, I know it more today than I did even last month! God is so very good, so very faithful, so perfectly trustworthy. I believe more healing is available. I believe God can and will remove the sting of death from every memory, from every painful experience. But I also believe that ultimate, total, complete and perfect healing will not come until I see Jesus face to face. And that’s okay. It causes me to lean into my King. In the meantime, I have a choice to make. Daily. Oh, more than daily. And it goes beyond the choice to forgive myself and others. It is a choice to love. Or not. I think of a friend whose deep betrayal by her ex-husband has dealt a merciless blow to her ability trust men. Make that to trust, period. I think of God, who was betrayed by the angels when they chose Satan over him. How badly did that hurt? I think again of God who gave us the free will to choose against him and the countless millions of times we all, beginning with Adam and Eve have chosen against him; betrayed his heart. And yet, God continues to love. To stay in. To pursue. To offer. To invite. To desire. So, is that just because he’s God and God is Love and he can’t help himself? Well that would make it easier for him wouldn’t it? Isn’t it easier for him? But then I thought about how mad he can get. And how really, you don’t want to get him mad. Think volcanoes erupting and fiery hailstorms and Jesus returning with his robe dipped in blood. And I remembered that Abraham talked God out of destroying Sodom and Gomorrah unconditionally. How God says himself that he has changed his mind. Many times. That he would like to react in anger sometimes too, but then, thinks better of it and chooses to stay in. Chooses to love. And so, because I am his and he is mine and because the resurrection is real and Jesus can and will and does live his life through me, I can choose to love again too. I can risk friendship and being hurt and misunderstood. I won’t walk around expecting it to happen but not be doe eyed shocked if it does. I will entrust myself to God. I will grow in fully trusting Jesus, my truest Friend. And I can choose to trust those God tells me to trust. I will limp. But I will limp, with God, and by his grace, choose an open heart.
Stasi Eldredge
Conservation of Energy
I enjoy reading biographies. Currently I'm reading about one of the towering figures of the twentieth century: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill. I’m early in the story of this prolific artist, author, poet, warrior, statesman and world leader - and I’ve already been disrupted by the way he lived his life. When asked, to what he attributed his success in life, without pause of hesitation, Churchill replied: “Conservation of energy. Never stand up when you can sit down, and never sit down when you can lie down.* Conservation of energy? Never standing when you can sit? Huh….? Churchill's whole life speaks of an unflappable vigor/spirit, an undiminished energy and yet he’s described as having “the gift of taking short naps when time permitted… when possible, he spent his mornings in bed, telephoning, dictating and receiving visitors”.* The “gift” of taking naps? The immediate thought racing through my head is, “Yes!!! I’ve found a worthy mentor… someone who gets me and can call me to the next level! Yes!!!" But, I’m not convinced my initial take away is the take away the Author and Perfector of my faith intends for me. I continue to read of Churchill’s life but return back to this “Conservation of energy” thing. I’m not sure why but I’m a bit muddled by it? Disrupted? What are you saying to me God? Perhaps I ought to pass Churchill’s quote on to a couple of my knuckle-headed-Type “A”-driven buddies. Wouldn’t it be a gift of insight and encouragement to them to know that the fruitfulness, the impact and the accomplishment they press for every day, 24/7 may not necessitate a frenzied, multi- tasking, always “on”, margin-less life style? I mean after all, Jesus’ life was never feverish; his life had a rhythm that allowed for time with people. He could spend hours talking to one person, such as the Samaritan woman at the well. His life showed a wonderful balance, a sense of pace, a poise that resulted in the world being flipped upside down. He conserved energy and effected history as no other! I can see my mate's smiling faces as I exhort them to less time at the desk and more time in bed, to frequent naps and to create margins in their life… for them to be more like Churchill and Jesus! At about the moment I’m firmly committed to confront my pals with a clarion call to “take it down a notch”, The Wonderful Counselor shifts the focus from them to me. My initial sense of validation is quickly deflated. That “ Hey, I’m a lot like Churchill (and Jesus)… I’ve got this whole conserving energy thing down- napping, mornings in bed, sitting around..." - is confronted with the question: “Conserving energy for what?” What am I conserving my energy for? This sweet short life is moving by quickly. I’m under the Big Top; at bat in the seventh game of the World Series; I’m in Bastogne and the enemy has launched a surprise winter offensive in the Ardennes; I’m living in a Larger Story where the hearts and lives of millions are deadened and need the Message of liberation. My wife, children, grandkids, friends and neighbors need me to be present and accounted for! This is not the time for extended naps! I think Churchill’s life was ordered by something larger than “chillin”… Christ’s pace also included exhausting periods of work, day after day of giving himself to others (Mark 1:32-34). On one occasion late into the evening, totally spent from ministry his disciples thought he was “out of his mind” (Mark 3:21). Mellow is one thing, layed back is okay for periods, rest is good; we all need breaks from the battles we face but sitting on the sidelines, missing the action, living is a self-protective disengagement is not the life I want. I want Christ’s life. I want his pace and poise… knowing when to pull away from the “crowds” and the shore to get a break and take a nap. I want, and at times, need a kick in the butt to enter the fray. I will protect my margins, those sacred periods of rest and renewal… and I want to give it all, when, where and how God wants me to. I want to conserve energy so that I can make the mark I am meant to. So, when do we nap and when do we bust our butts? Mark’s account of Jesus’ crowded day gives a clue, “…Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” (1:35). Christ waited for his Father’s instructions and the strength to follow them. He discerned the Father’s will day by day in a life of prayer… he walked with God. I long to walk with God, to sit with God... and, in limited amounts, nap with God! - Craig McConnell * Churchill by Paul Johnson, Viking Penguin, 2009, page 5.
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Craig McConnell
The Olympics
A number of times I've turned on the Olympics because, well, it’s the Olympics - those epic international games that draw the world together to celebrate the ideals of sportsmanship, excellence and competition! It's a cultural ritual... like watching the Super Bowl, wearing green on St. Patty's, apple pie and voting out incumbents. So... several times I turn on the tube and the programming is coverage of some obscure sport (Skeleton? Curling? Ice Dancing? Biathlon?) or some event I’m not particularly drawn to like Men’s Figure Skating Short Program and I’m thinking “I could care less”, but before I can find which cushions the remote is tucked between and switch channels they do the story/bio/human-interest piece on one of the competitors and suddenly... I'm captured... I'm now the featured athletes biggest fan, cheering like crazy and ultimately in tears whether they win or lose. The power of a person's story still surprises me! I remember a gal I viewed as pretty spacey. My read was that she was tethered to some other world that, in terms of social interaction and meaningful relationships, made her, essentially a martian in this world. She, astutely, picks up my "I could care less about you" vibe and initiates a meeting with me to talk about it. We're at Starbucks having a cup of joe and the opening ceremonies start with her telling me all about her work and weekend - yadda, yadda, yadda and just before I find which hemispheres of my brain the remote is tucked between and hit the power/attention/"Who cares" button she has begun to share some of her story. In mere moments I'm captured by her biography of betrayal, neglect, dismissal and abuse. She, vulnerably and softly shares of a season in despair and speaks of God rescuing her and of an ever present craving for friendships she's never known. My coffee is cold and I'm stunned by my sin - so ashamed of my unloving interactions with her - and I wonder, again, why I've judged a book by it's cover... In the same instant I'm now one of her biggest fans, wanting to cheer her on like crazy!!! It's incredible how quickly our hearts toward another can shift! Story is the language of the heart. Listen to another’s story and you'll understand them… you'll feel compassion for them, you'll end up being one of their fans... I'm so glad I didn't change the channel. - Craig McConnell
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Craig McConnell
Beauty
Some things can be measured scientifically. Weight. Height. Even the fact that infants respond more to a woman's smile than a man's...All kinds of things can be measured. But how do you measure the fragrance of a woman? The beauty of a comforting touch? Tears of empathy? Eyes that welcome, accept...love? How can you quantify the sound of a laugh that makes you feel to your bones that all is right with the world? How can you possibly dissect beauty? That would be like pinning a dead butterfly to a board. What would you know of its flight or what is drawn from the human heart while watching it move? We know it when we see it. We truly see it when we experience it. We experience it when that part of us that is most truly us sighs in our soul's deepest recesses and connects with the heart of our God in rest. In thankfulness. In joy. Outward beauty is a thing that can be measured only when we accept the standards of measurement. Youth passes - so youthful beauty fades. Wrinkles are around my eyes. Yours too most likely. Laugh lines are earned! Gravity takes its toll but who wants to live in a cage; fearful of the ravages of time? Life is to be lived. Beauty, true beauty INCREASES! It increases as it is offered, shared and spent on others. It increases as our eyes open to the beauty surrounding us in God's creation and in each and every one of his image bearers. It grows as Jesus captures more of our hearts and we are transformed into his very likeness. Who can measure the beauty of a sunset? Of a nursing mother? Of the Living God? Of you? No one. Beauty is a mystery to be embraced and enjoyed and received and owned. God says you are beautiful. More beautiful than any other thing in all creation. And, well, he ought to know.
Stasi Eldredge
Home Again, Home Again Jiggity Jig
What a whirlwind my life has been these last two months! Traveling for a variety of reasons culminated in traveling for the Love and War tour. Goodness, it was quite a schedule. It was exhausting, demanding and difficult. It was also glorious, fun and an immense honor! Oh, the best part was meeting the men and women who wanted to have their book signed at the end of the evening. Getting to meet, look into their eyes and chat briefly was just so great! I was meeting my brothers and sisters who are on this journey with me, who I’ll know well in Heaven, but getting to meet them on this side. YAY! Thank you to all of you who came. What a privilege it was for John and I to have been able to come. But I am home now. Big sigh. Home for a month before traveling again and I am so thankful! Today, I planned out the meals for a whole week – breakfast, lunch and dinner – (yes, be amazed), then made my grocery list and actually went out and purchased it. It took four trips to unload the car and half of the groceries are still on the kitchen counter but I feel so very accomplished! When I am rested, I am so much more organized. I am also such a nicer person. This morning, I ventured out into the snowy twenty-degree weather and took our dog for a walk while I talked with God. Oban (our dog) was so happy, running along with his nose in the snow. On the way back home, we passed my neighbor’s who also have a golden retriever who loves playing with our dog. They’re kind of like cousins. Anyway, as I’m passing their house, I think about inviting her over for coffee. We gave the couple Love and War for Christmas and it would be good to talk…but honestly, I haven’t had the energy to pursue anyone for quite a while. It felt so good to be thinking about pursuing our neighbors again! So, I’m passing the house when she emerges to let out her dog and invite ours over to romp. Then, since I have the time and the space, I was able to “hang out” and talk (inside) while the dogs raced around in the snow. YAY! I’m back. Now to pace myself. I can hear Jesus saying, "Walk with Me". Yes, Lord.
Stasi Eldredge
Pretending
There comes an hour in the afternoon when the child is tired of ‘pretending’; when he is weary of being a robber or a cowboy. It is then that he torments the cat… - Gilbert Keith Chesterton Eventually we all tire, and it is then that things unseen while pretending, surface… and we torment the cat, our spouse, our children, or the gal behind the United Customer Service Desk at United O’Hare. I think of the gifted woman who speaks profound as-if-they-were-from-God words to those gathered in the groups she attends… and then, wearied from ministry, returns home spent, short and all but absent to her young son and husband. Her “gifting” leaves them tormented. There’s the pastor, a true verse by verse expository preacher who carefully parses every verb preparing for his series on “The Biblical Mandate to Love”, while his wife is withering from the cold dismissive silence that’s marked their marriage for 20 years. He stopped pretending years ago. We can speak, behave and appear to be something we are not yet… and while it may sound and look good/godly/holy... we're actually just pretending... something core, true, is missing. It looks like God but is missing the stamp of authenticity... and lacking that, it will not last long. Paul hits on this saying, “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing...” I Corinthians 13 It may be an hour in the afternoon or a season of life… and we’ll catch ourselves tormenting the cat! It’s in that moment of exposure, of embarrassment, failure and frustration that we can see it, own it and then... cry out to God for a deep true transformation that endures and deepens over decades. Decades! Why do we settle for pretending when the life, character, strength and love we yearn for, and often pretend to have, really is available? We don't have to pretend! I’m thinking of a blogger who loves nothing more than to poetically write of an intimacy and life with God and yet startled by fear and in-some-way committed to self-protection can get through life only giving 78% of himself. Most don’t notice, but at times it torments those closest to him because they need and want all of him! Oh how I long to tire of pretending. - Craig McConnell
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Craig McConnell
A Chance Encounter?
So, I'm walking across the parking lot today back towards Whole Foods. I'd finished my shopping, put the bags in my truck, but I'd forgotten a fork. To eat my lunch. Anyhow, I'm walking cross the parking lot when I hear a voice yell, "John!" I look around, don't see anyone, and keep walking. I hear, "John Eldredge?" and this time I see a guy climbing out of his car, smile on his face. He introduces himself, a Wild at Heart Boot Camp alum from two years ago. It was good to see him. "I'm leading some guys through Fathered by God!" he said. "Wow, way to go! How are things going?" I asked. Tears welled up in his eyes. "My wife is having an affair." I was devastated for him. We talked for a bit about what is going on, he held back the tears, we prayed. Then we parted. I'm still sobered by it. A chance encounter? This man doesn't even live in Colorado. I never, ever walk back into the store for a second time. It was Jesus, I know. And partly it was for this good man, so we could talk, and pray. But God was also speaking through the encounter to me...to us. Stasi and I never planned to write a marriage book, you see. It stills feels weird that we have. But I am seeing more and more that this is the Next Front in the Great War. The enemy is raging, and homes are falling. "There is evil all over her," this man I spoke with in the parking lot said. Indeed, there is. Against all of us, married or single. And so I find myself thinking about what it means to strengthen ourselves in God. We say our prayers, every day, because it strengthens us and prepares us for what may come. (I think most of us realize we must be strong in Christ for whatever may come.) What about strengthening our relationships as well? They need it, though it might not seem like they do. This man didn't think so. Not till now.
John Eldredge
The Turn Out
Lori and I just celebrated our 34 years of marriage. I remember when we were dating and occasionally drove up the mountain road to Chantry Flats in the San Gabriel Mountains that bordered our hometown. In a few quick miles there were several turn outs that provided a perch to view the shimmering evening lights of LA. We’d go up there to pray over the city! Once we were cruising the twisty road and came up behind an older car dawdling up the grade piloted by an older couple - I was 22, they had to be in their 80’s. Once I got past the frustration of their slow pace bottlenecking a growing line of impatient road hacks I noticed how close Gram and Gramps were sitting. They were like two peas in a pod (do I sound like Forest Gump?), tight as could be right up alongside one another. In those days it was common for a car’s front seat to be a bench seat and the absence of mandatory seat belt laws made it easy to snuggle while you drove. He had one hand on the wheel and the other around her shoulder. We were mesmerized by an old married couple being so in love… after decades! Following them for a couple of miles I think a little cynicism I had about marriage was being dismantled by this pair of silver-haired lovers. Deeper than my cynicism was a latent desire for a marital intimacy and relationship that would thrive over the decades. Decades! I knew that someday, with someone, I’d say something along the lines of “till death do us part”, but long loving marriages weren’t a prominent theme in my world, and besides, the rapture was due in the next year or two making any long term commitment a mute point. Until that moment I don’t think I ever considered a long loving ever-increasing intimate marriage a very real possibility. Lori and I were captivated by the untold love story putzing along in front of us. When they pulled over into a familiar turn out, we couldn’t help but pull in right alongside of them. There they sat enjoying the city lights, there we sat enjoying them and began to believe and hope for ourselves. At the time I said to myself and then out loud, that’s what I want… I want to be that couple at that age… in this turn out, very much in love. On many occasions since I’ve remembered that couple. 34 years into a marriage I hope lasts for seventy I think we have an incredible marriage... but, I know there’s so much more for us to experience, enjoy, offer and be, as husband and wife. Many times I’ve said to Lori, “I cannot wait till we’ve been married for 50 years… by then I will have become more the man who loves you as God intended you to be loved.” We’re closing in on that older couple we saw 36 years ago, and I'm no longer a cynic. I know firsthand that a long lasting loving intimate marriage is possible! It is good! If you see us pulled over in a turn out, pull up alongside, but hey, don’t flash the lights… we’re praying! - Craig McConnell
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Craig McConnell