A Confession: I Don’t Get It

I have a confession to make. There are a lot of times that I read the red letters and I have absolutely.no.idea what they mean.  When I read in the gospel stories how Jesus rolls his eyes and shakes his … Continue reading →

Power, Pride, or Radical Humility

Scott on his site just posted this really great post on the current state of discipleship in American churches. Please, really, you must go read it because if we are not awake to the temptations of prestige, power, and possessions, … Continue reading →

Tozer on Unity {Quotable}

“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become unity conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified. The body becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The whole church of God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and a higher life.” ~A.W. Tozer from The Pursuit of God (1948)

Read this quote over here this morning. I have always loved this vision of unity and today was ex.act.ly the day that I needed this reminder.

Note to self: Eyes on Christ. (Repeat as often as necessary)

Points of Interest {This Week’s Must-Reads}

On Monday I made a commitment to read less “stuff”–be it blogs, twitter, newspaper. I knew I was getting overloaded with information and it was slowing down the transformation process. So this week’s “must-reads” are really not reads at all. … Continue reading →

Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop

What is it about us women and our shoes? We do so love them. I confess that on a blue day, I will cheer myself by looking {mostly just looking} at pictures of shoes on line. No matter what size … Continue reading →

Sold For a Half-Cent {The Value of Little Things}

Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the  very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more … Continue reading →

Are You Listening? For What? {#HearItUseIt}

God speaks. While other gods fuss and fury, it’s a fundamental distinctive of the Christian faith that our God speaks. Not with incomprehensible utterances, but with words. Words filled with meaning and motive and force. From the opening pages of Scripture … Continue reading →

Points of Interest {This Week’s Must-Reads from the WWW}

Here they are, my favorite web reads from this last week.  Thank you, Ed. Thank you for speaking for me. I’m ready to see this wrong made right, too. Scotty Smith’s work always finds a way to encourage or exhort … Continue reading →

Roar! {Five Minute Friday}

It’s Gypsy Mama’s Five Minute Friday. Today’s word is ‘Roar!’ Here we go… It echoes. It chills the nerves. It demands a response. “Shh! Shh! Quiet now! Stop being so demanding. Stop disrupting this comfortable little life I have made … Continue reading →

L’Engle on Talent and Social Media {Quotable}

From Madeleine L’Engle’s Walking on Water (Crosswicks, 1980):

God is no respecter of persons, and this is something we are reluctant to face.

We would like God’s ways to be like our ways, his judgments to be like our judgments. It is hard for us to understand that he lavishly gives enormous talents to people we would consider unworthy, that he chooses his artists with as calm a disregard of surface moral qualifications as he chooses his saints.

Often we forget that he has a special gift for each of of us, because we tend to weigh and measure such gifts with the coin of the world’s market place. The widow’s mite was worth more than all the rich men’s gold because it represented the focus of her life. Her poverty was rich because she had belonged to the living Lord. Some unheard-of Elizabethan woman who led a life of selfless love may well be brought before the throne of God ahead of Shakespeare, for such a person may be a greater force for good than someone on whom God’s blessings seem to have been dropped more generously. As Emmanuel, Cardinal Suhard says, “To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda, nor even in stirring people up, but in being a living mystery. It means to live in such a way that one’s life would not make sense if God did not exist.“

Well that’s a perspective we should keep in mind, especially as we interact in the world of social media. Large numbers of ‘followers’ does not mean that we are being a force for good. If all you have is one ‘follower,’ lead them well. Invite them into the mystery of your God-focused life. Offer that selfless service as your widow’s mite. Let your poverty of followers be rich in influence.