Musician. Composer. Recovering perfectionist. Minister-in-transition. Lover of puns. Hijacker of rock song references. Questioner of the status quo. I'm not really a rebel. Just a sincere Christ-follower with a thirst for significance that gets me into trouble. My quest has taken me over the fence of institutional Christianity. Here are some of my random thoughts along the way. Read along, join in the conversation. Just be nice.
Categories: General, Meanderings (look it up), Tags: creativity, holidays, people, ramblings
Thanksgiving isn’t until Thursday, but for us it starts today.
We’ve got plans with some friends on Thanksgiving itself, but this afternoon the loose-knit group of creative friends who have sort of adopted us will be having their annual Thanksgiving party. We did this last year, and we had a blast, so we’re looking forward to it.
Categories: Meanderings (look it up)
It’s interesting how we change over time.
The increase in political rhetoric leading up to the 2012 elections has sparked some reminders of where I was four years ago, and even eight years ago. I used to be so engrossed in the political conversation; now I can only take it in small doses. I cringe now at some of what I wrote even on this blog during the last presidential race. (Don’t go looking for it; if I catch you going back there, I’ll start deleting. :))
Categories: food for thought, General, Tags: fear, food for thought
So the other day, The Director and I were talking, and somehow the conversation got onto the topic of fear, and the role that it plays in injustice. We began to observe how in so many cases, an injustice done to an individual or an entire people group happens because someone else was afraid.
It’s uncanny, actually, if you think about it, how many times you can see the fear factor in injustice.
Categories: food for thought, Tags: changing mindsets, Distorted images of God
Part 1 here.
Part 2 here.
Part 3 here.
Part 4 here.
This series of posts has been about the numerous ways our mental picture of God commonly gets distorted–how we see Him differently than who He is. I’d like to wrap up with a few closing thoughts, including some reflections on how I think God would actually like us to see Him.
Categories: changing mindsets, Tags: changing mindsets, Distorted images of God, faith
Part 1 here.
Part 2 here.
Part 3 here.
I’m probably going to wrap this series up within the next couple of weeks, because I think we’re probably getting the idea behind it–which is that we all have some measure of distortion in our mental pictures of God, which often gives us the wrong idea about Him. But before we wrap it up, I want to tackle at least one more of the common ways we distort the image of God. I call this one “God the Sugar-Daddy.”
Need I continue?
Categories: food for thought, Tags: Distorted images of God, food for thought
Surprisingly and ironically, after feeling a bit dry on this blog, since I started this series I have found I could go in about four different other directions. 🙂 But since I promised to continue this thread, I’m gonna write this one first, and save the others for later.
So…I’m continuing my ramblings on the ways we humans get distorted pictures in our minds of who God is, and what He is like. Today I’ll tackle another common one, which I call “God the Angry Judge.”
Categories: How I am
When I first started my series on Distorted Images of God, I mentioned that I reserved the right to interrupt the series if I had some other things to share.
So I do.
So I am.
Just wanted to give a personal update on the music side of things, for those who have been wondering how that part of my life is going, since it’s been awhile since I said anything about that. I had mentioned some goals at the beginning of this year, and while I’ve been slow to reach them, I have managed to reach a couple of milestones in the past week, both of which have been pretty exciting (for me, at least).
Categories: changing mindsets, Tags: Distorted images of God, food for thought
Continuing my ramblings on the different ways our mental picture of God gets distorted, I’d like to focus on another common distortion–one that I call “God the Indifferent Creator.”
People commonly form this image of God in their minds for a variety of reasons, but in my experience one of the main catalysts for it is prayer that seems to go unanswered. When someone earnestly prays for something to happen, and God seems to fall silent or does not answer the prayer the way we think He ought to, we get disappointed. When this happens repeatedly, we can get jaded, and may start believing that He is largely indifferent to our needs or desires. I know one person who claims a belief in God, but seriously questions the purpose of prayer. He figures, if God is going to do, or not do, whatever He pleases, anyhow, what’s the point of asking Him for anything?
Categories: changing mindsets, Tags: Distorted images of God, food for thought
This post begins a series of (what I hope to be several) posts about the ways we often envision or characterize God in our minds, and how they frequently differ from how He describes Himself. It’s been awhile since I’ve done a series like this, and I’m obviously not blogging as often as I have in the past, so please be patient. (I even reserve the right to deter from this thread if I feel inclined to blog about something else along the way.)
Categories: changing mindsets, food for thought, religion, Tags: changing mindsets, religion
Maybe I’ve blogged about this in one of the many earlier posts, but since I’m thinking about it this morning, I’ll just launch out and talk about it anyway.
When I was pastoring a house church in Tulsa, there was one pastor in town whom I knew briefly and tried to be friends with–but the truth was, we totally butted heads, from the first day we met. We were at someone’s house for a dinner party, and while chatting within the group, I related a story of how I’d recently seen one guy “witnessing” to another outside a Tulsa restaurant. The person doing the “witnessing” was quite literally thumping a Bible, talking very vehemently to the other guy with pointing fingers and everything. I said nothing at the time, but at the dinner party I mentioned how I wished I could have gone to the victim (’cause that’s what he looked like) to apologize on behalf of my brother for improperly representing Christ to him.