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Soundtrack of Life

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Categories: fun, music

Sometimes I don’t think we even realize how much music is in the background.

Today as I sit in this coffee shop, they are playing Christmas music. Like they have for days.

Walmart has been playing Christmas music since the day after Halloween. (Don’t they know Thanksgiving comes first? But then again, does anyone know any “Thanksgiving Carols?”)

Christmas is my favorite time of year; I just don’t want to be tired of it by the time it gets here.

Anywho….

This got me thinking about how much music punctuates our lives, whether or not we are paying attention.

This is a preview of Soundtrack of Life. Read the full post (236 words, 2 images, estimated 57 secs reading time)

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False Spiritual Benchmarks

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Categories: food for thought

My blogger friend Heidi shared about her deconstruction process on her blog. Here’s some of what she shared:

“I’m not more spiritually healthy though. I’ve taken a definite hiatus from spiritual things. I can tell I’ve lost some ground because I haven’t been disciplined in my Bible reading and worship, although I still talk to God all the time.”

This struck a real chord with me, not because I’m trying to single her out, but because I know exactly what she is feeling.

This is a preview of False Spiritual Benchmarks. Read the full post (1236 words, 1 image, estimated 4:57 mins reading time)

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Whaddya Think About This Stuff?

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Categories: food for thought

There is a belief sometimes taught within Judaism that “sin” is basically misdirected passion.

In other words, passion itself is neither good nor evil–passion is simply strong desire, strong feeling. What makes it good or evil is how it is directed.

A good example of this is the human sex drive. When it is directed in God’s prescribed manner (marriage) it is good and holy; when released in other contexts, however, it is sin. But the sexual impulse itself is not sin; without it, none of us would be here. The sin (or lack thereof) is in how it is directed.

This is a preview of Whaddya Think About This Stuff?. Read the full post (163 words, 1 image, estimated 39 secs reading time)

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Broken People

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Categories: food for thought, My Story

Pastoring people has been an interesting journey for me. Not only have I learned some things about people in general–I’ve learned a lot about myself, including some stuff that was very hard to look at.

For a good part of my earlier years as a pastor, I felt personally responsible to fix people who were broken. I thought it was my job, and I thought I’d be failing as a pastor somehow if I didn’t. In my sincere efforts to fix people, I’d stick my nose into places where it didn’t belong, speak the “truth” to people when they were not ready to hear it–or my perception of the “truth”–and all sorts of other things like that, justifying my actions by saying it was my job. In fact, one of my favorite things to say in these moments was, “I wouldn’t be doing a good job as a pastor if I didn’t say this to you.”

This is a preview of Broken People. Read the full post (670 words, 2 images, estimated 2:41 mins reading time)

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How My Picture of Ministry Is Changing

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Categories: changing mindsets, food for thought, music

(You might want to read these two posts first, if you’re just joining us, so you have a grid for this one.)

In my last post, I shared how in a conversation with my family about our creative gifts, we realized that we had been trying to fit our gifts into a traditional ministry paradigm, instead of letting those gifts BE the ministry. I shared what an “a-ha” moment this was for me.

When a truth like that confronts you, it creates a paradigm shift. In other words, when you build a whole mindset around some assumed beliefs or facts, and a new truth is entered into the picture, you have to re-think your assumptions to accommodate that truth.

This is a preview of How My Picture of Ministry Is Changing. Read the full post (1023 words, 1 image, estimated 4:06 mins reading time)

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Right Under My Nose (part 2)

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Categories: changing mindsets, food for thought, Meanderings (look it up)

Sometimes “a-ha” moments can be enlightening and inspiring, like I described a couple of days ago when I said that the seeds of the creative community I have longed for exists in my own family.

But sometimes “a-ha” moments can be a little devastating, too. When you realize how long you’ve gone on with a mindset that constricts your dreams rather than releases them–that can be a little devastating, even while it inspires.

This is a preview of Right Under My Nose (part 2). Read the full post (984 words, 1 image, estimated 3:56 mins reading time)

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I Made a Funny

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Categories: fun, What the heck was THAT?

The Wild One, The Director and I were looking for photo ops today. The following conversation took place:

Me: Honey, where do you want to go now?

Wild One: I was thinking about going downtown.

Me: Yeah, that would be fun. We could have lunch down there, too. (Checked my pocket for change.) Oh, wait…I don’t have enough change for the parking meters down there. Do you guys have any change?

The Director: Nope.

Wild One: I don’t think so.

This is a preview of I Made a Funny. Read the full post (145 words, 2 images, estimated 35 secs reading time)
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