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“You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart — your stories, visions, memories, visions and songs. Your truth, your version of things, your own voice. That is really all you have to offer us. And that’s also why you were born.”
Anne Lamott

“You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart — your stories, visions, memories, visions and songs. Your truth, your version of things, your own voice. That is really all you have to offer us. And that’s also why you were born.”
Anne Lamott

Month: June 2008

Echoes

George

Occasionally I hear what seems to be echoes of my thoughts and sometimes my words. Today’s post by the Internet Monk is one of those occasions. These quotes specifically resonated with me:

… those who are living through a “church crisis” and feeling spiritually homeless.

That would be me in the middle of that crisis, and best I can tell from my email, thousands and thousands of others are on the same bus.

It’s not that I don’t have a home church where people love me, or that I’m a church consumer who can’t be satisfied with the coffee bar and kickin’ worship band at the local megachurch, or that I am so theologically sophisticated that I can’t stand to listen to any preacher who isn’t more interesting than N.T. Wright.

No, my spiritual “aloneness” crisis is something inside of me. It just isn’t syncing with the churches around me. I feel like I’m sitting in a huge commercial for a product I don’t want to buy anymore. (Not Jesus, but the current version of the Christian life as its sold by evangelicals in general.) I haven’t abandoned the church. I just feel like I’m an alien visitor listening to a lot of that sound the adults make in the Charlie Brown cartoons. …

My prayer isn’t that I will find the church. I’ve had plenty of that. I want the Holy Spirit to make me the beginning of the Jesus-story believing community that tells its stories to the world. I want what Jesus wanted when he poured out his spirit on those disciples to happen in and through me, to whoever is thirsty, lost and alone.

You might want to read the post in its entirety at http://jesusshaped.wordpress.com/2008/06/13/finding-jesus-at-aa/.

Facebook

George

I’m so out of date. I just recently discovered Facebook. It is really interesting and I am attempting to incorporate my blog posts into Facebook. This is a test of a plugin I just loaded.

Hope it works!!

Life Goes On

It has been a busy and good week. I have gotten several of my projects completed. In the carriage house I built a work bench, installed some lighting and organized a lot of my tools and stuff. I have to admit it looks pretty good. Our yard and flower beds are looking nice. The real test comes as we hit these hot and humid days. We turned on the A/C for the first time this year this week.

It was good to have Melissa and her kids visiting Thursday and Friday. The kids are in a growing phase and their change is obvious each time we see them. Tyler will be staying with us next week. I expect that each of them will spend some time with us this summer.

I have been working out regularly. Riding my bike to High Bridge and back has become a enjoyable routine. However, the heat gave me all I wanted and more on Friday. It is nice to have the hot tub to relax in after a work out. We got a new grill and I have been grilling quite a bit. I cooked chicken last evening for dinner. Our friend and financial advisor Tracy was here from Louisville.

Tomorrow is our 46th wedding anniversary. We are going to Louisville to celebrate. After attending church at Okolona and having lunch we are spending the night at a nice hotel. We plan to have dinner at our old favorite restaurant, The Bristol Bar and Grille. After dental appointments Monday morning we will pick up Tyler and return to Wilmore. Monday evening is the start of our baseball tournament.

This evening we attended the first summer concert on village green. It was nice and we look forward to the rest of the season. This week is the Ichthus Christian Music Festival. I hope to attend as many session as possible. Ann and I are working all day Friday. We get festival passes at a discount for volunteering. It should be a really interesting experience.