Wednesday, October 16, 2013

"... but in my opinion miracles will never confound a realist. It is not miracles that bring a realist to faith. A true realist, if he is not a believer, will always find in himself the strength and ability not to believe in miracles as well, and if a miracle stands before him as an irrefutable fact, he will sooner doubt his own senses than admit the fact. And even if he does admit it, he will admit it as a fact of nature that was previously unknown to him. In the realist, faith is not born from miracles, but miracles from faith. Once the realist comes to believe then, precisely because of his realism, he must also allow for miracles. The Apostle Thomas declared that he would not believe until he saw, and when he saw, he said: "my Lord and my God!" Was it the miracle that made him believe? Most likely not, but he believed first and foremost because he wished to believe, and maybe already fully believed in his secret heart even as he was saying: "I will not believe until I see."

- Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Finishing Well:

Finishing well means leaving behind:
     1. The Gospel
     2. The Kingdom of God
     3. Praise and Worship

To finish well means to leave things conducive for these things to grow and continue.

To finish well means leaving these things in the hearts of the people and places we have touched.

To finish well means to leave no strings untied.

To finish well means to love how Jesus loves.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Easter 2013


Matthew 16:24-28 :


     "Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

“Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.""


Good news guys.
The tomb is still empty.
Jesus, the man, and Jesus our Lord was dead.
But now he’s not.
He suffered brutal asphyxiation, he was mocked and insulted by thousands, he cried tears of blood, he hung there naked, and seemingly helpless.
As he breathed his last painful breath, gasping for air, our sins, our fears, and our own death breathed their last too.
The tomb is still empty.
He is risen.
Our fears did not rise with him. They lie dead and condemned.
Jesus is alive. Now.
His reign has begun.
He has gone to the father for a little while, but he is coming back again!
We have not tasted death, but we have seen the Son of Man come into his kingdom.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

So here it is. The first post in a long long time. I wanted to put a large chunk of an essay entitled "Belief" by Donald Miller from his book Blue Like Jazz, but I don't have time for that.

Instead, I encourage you to read it (or re-read it).

And now I leave you with 3 thoughts.

1. Mark Lasitter is a good roommate. He also loves my blog despite the fact that I don't have time to write any more.

2. I think that The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) is an extremely unique parable. Not only does it reference real people directly (Abraham) while just about all the other parables only get as specific as "Son" or "Bridegroom" or "Widow" or "King", it also feels very unique in storytelling and content. I'm not sure what to think of it as I read and ponder over it again. I wonder if this is where a lot of the imagery for Heaven and Hell that feels ingrained in our society comes from. I would bet this definitely played a major role, along with the other pieces of scripture where there is discussion of fire and burning for sins. I would also bet that wasn't Jesus's main goal in the parable...

3. Sneak Peak:
http://kellyandboyer.ourwedding.com


Happy Wednesday.