the end of this month (today) marks 12 months... 1 year for me blogging. 1 year of my diary our loud for all to see... all the questions, the searching, the wondering, the ranting, the pursuit...
thanks for checking in and keeping tabs with what is going on around here. you play a part of this. more to come... way more life to live.
much love...
Freddy
this is good stuff...
find what god is already doing.
enjoy
F
it is amazing and humbling for me to sit and realize that some of the things that we have been talking about for the past several years are becoming a REALITY!
this is a great picture of: a community is made up of its parts.
community = the sum of I + I + I + I + I...
as you move... we move.
as i move... we move.
the same conversations over and over and over wins. the same vision over and over and over wins. love wins! consistency wins!
you are part of this community... the reality is even if you do not live here you are still part of this community. the global community of followers of christ and pursuers of the cross. we are responsible for shaping the future... for shaping what will be. we are the windows to life...
i love being part of something bigger than me...
thanks for being a part with me.
this is REALITY.
this has been a dream several years now... to pour into... to live life with... to learn from... to discuss... to re-shape... re-think... re-define... what the culture, this community will look like.
no longer (not that it ever has been) is it ok to REACT to our culture... it is time to cultivate and create our culture.
st. louis | ONE is an experiment... an experience... a collaborative MOVEMENT with groups all across the st. louis metro area to align and build the future together!
it is time to re-dream what is going to be.
i am blessed and humbled to be a part of this... i continue a little at a time to "get it." to be a part of a community and what community truly is.
students... THANK YOU... for following, thank you for your kind words of encouragement, for trusting and pursuing christ with your life... you teach me so much... more than you will ever know... you are my hero's... i know for a ton of you, you are the only one in your family that is pursuing christ and following christ... wow, that's not easy, but keep fighting, keep asking questions... genuine seeking will breed genuine finding... you're doing it, your being it. your living life with depth, authenticity... we are beginning to understand the depth, richness and fullness.
thanks for letting me a part of this...
humbled,
F
i am one of those people who feels a great deal of tension when i am driving and i see someone on the side of the road broken down or in need of help... 99.9% of the time i drive right on past and try to focus on something else other than the tension i am currently feeling or i am quick with an excuse because the reality is i know NOTHING about fixing cars.
i don't know why i am hyper-aware of this and since i am so keen to it, why don't i ever stop and if nothing else... just ask?
that changed for me this past weekend... getting off my exit i noticed in the right hand lane a van with its hazard lights on and again keenly felt the tension. as i neared the van, i didn't slow down as i usually do not. but was looking at what could be the situation and noticed a woman walking down the highway 50 yards or so ahead. i still do not know what drove me to pull over or what was so compelling to help this woman. the only thing i know is that the next moment i was pulling over onto the shoulder next to the woman, almost hitting her and scarring her half to death to the point that she definitely let me know it...
she ran out of gas... the gas station wasn't far... she hoped in the car with my wife, son and i and we took her to get some gas. we waited around and then drove her back to her van and went on our way.
i don't know her name... or anything about her... just that she was someone who needed some help at that moment and i was someone who could help her.
what if this was the norm in my life?
a little 5 minutes extra out of my time to help a stranger... to help humanity.
i am learning to love deeper... no strings attached... no agendas... not because of who i am but because of who christ in me. this is a big learning curve... but i think i can get used to it.
may we learn to love deep...
F
do we learn life in a classroom?
or...
is life the classroom?
or...
is it all just life anyway?
"It's more like my entire human existence is the classroom or the dance floor and my spiritual growth unfolds out of an endless number of improvisational interactions with god and the world around me." (jim palmer... wide open spaces)
are you learning from anything, anywhere from anyone?
there is way more going on here... keep exploring... keep asking questions...
i am convinced that genuine seeking produces genuine finding. it's NOT a game of hide-n-seek its more like a game of aware-n-see... see what is already happening around you... what is already at work in life... in your life!
"ready or not... here i come."
F
"authentic christianity is the best kept secret."
authentic love = authentic change
i enjoy seeing the relationship between concepts and how those concepts become reality. jesus said that "they" would know us by our love. is it perhaps through love then that "they" would see... that they would understand... that they would know? what if the issue is that we or "us" still don't know this love? now we see the static that is being created in america between "us and them" who ever "us and them" are. we always talk about changing the world... what about changing you?
i have learned that love is worthy of my pursuit. i have not given up on love. have you?
as i move... we move.
as you move... we move.
may we continue to pursue authentic love so it is no longer a secret.
F
i am reminded again this morning of how high the bar has been raised when it comes to love...
from humanity i only understand love through a conditional lens... it is beyond difficult to understand the concept, let alone the reality of unconditional love. packaged with love for me as i begin to break it down, is the ability to listen. to listen with more that just my ears, but to listen with my eyes and my heart.
what if listening has more to do with our eyes than our ears?
you know when you are talking with someone and you know if they are listening or not because of where their attention is focused on? our eyes prove our attention... our heart sees what fascinates it thru our eyes.
what i see shapes what i listen to... shapes what i feel?
what have i allowed my eyes to see?
the hurt?
the pain?
the ignorance?
as i see... i listen... i learn... i begin to love.
F
i continue to have incredible conversations... today we finished a conversation based around the topic of social awareness.
what if... we love first and talk later?
what if... our words only helped add definition to our lives?
what would that look like?
people don't want to listen until we first listen...
people don't want to learn until we first learn...
people don't want to love until we first love...
may me listen, learn, and love...
if nothing else, may we love.
F
alright... last night at the gathering, well, the conversations after the gathering, nothing short of AMAZING!
i am encouraged to be a part of this...
we are finally understanding the "gospel"... the process of being restored to what it was and is supposed to be.
that is the story that i want to be a part of... that is the story that i and we are apart of. its much more...
thanks for journeying...
F
i was encouraged this morning to read a post on another guys blog about this new emerging generation wanted to deal with the tough stuff in life. we have talked about this for what seems like weekly this year at the REALM on wednesday nights at the gathering.
he said that, "too often the church continues to answer questions that no one is asking." then went on to say that, "we aren't doing any one any favors if we don't talk about the tough stuff." people want and desire to deal with the "stuff" if you know what i mean?
don't you?
that is exactly where static (our current series at the gathering) is taking us this month. dealing with some the tough stuff that has been so easy to shove under the carpet but that can no longer be ignored.
there is a generation that wants to live and explore what jesus meant when he said life to the full and talked about freedom and suffering and serving.
that's life...
that's exciting...
F
what if there was more?
what if life was meant to be more deep, full, and rich?
i am pretty convinced that it was... i think it is obvious as we "look under some rocks" in the bible and see what is really under there.
this past weekend i had the opportunity to be involved in some AMAZING conversations... conversations wrapped in the pursuit of following christ continue to leave sweet aromas in my soul... they continue to set the tone for me.
what if this were the norm... in my life... in your life?
i remain encouraged this morning to be a part of this... the re-shaping, the re-defining... the taking responsibility for asking the right questions that will lead to growth.
thanks for the journey...
F
growing up did you ever wonder more about things below just the surface? did you ever lift up a rock to explore what could be underneath? to look for worms, or rollie pollies, or crickets or crawfish or something?
it was almost as if there was a whole "other" world under there...
what if there is "more" beneath the surface than we ever knew existed?
What if the message jesus was trying to have had so much more depth... so much more fullness... so much more richness to it?
what if?
i guess its time to look under some rocks?
F
this week i have been more encouraged to be a part of the church than i have in the last, probably 4 plus years, or for as long as i have been forced to think on my own.
it's happening... the things that we were discussing 2-3 years ago and the shifts and the reality is beginning to change and i feel like the church is gaining her identity back again... a little at a time.
THIS EXCITES ME... more than you know, probably not if you know me at all.
yesterday i was driving home in some ridiculous traffic and off on the horizon the sun was showing itself through the clouds as brilliant rays of light were piercing through the collection of clouds. when i was growing up my mom would often ask, "do you see that?" that's god! she often said this about the scene that was unfolding before my eyes as i was driving home... seeing god in the rays of sun coming through the clouds. as i sat there i answered her question out loud to myself in my car... "yea, that is god." the night before after the storm a huge rainbow painted the sky... "yea, that is god."
be encouraged today... don't miss him...
because, "yes, that is god!"
F
this is what i am talking about... the future of the church is happening now...
i love the innovation and the possibility...
WE WILL BE DOING THIS come june...
check it out!
F
i continue to be inspired and intrigued with possibilities of what could be... i just sat down and had another great conversation with two youth pastors today... we talked on "yesterday" - "today" and the possibilities of "tomorrow". i have said this for several years now and i will say that the best days for the church are still ahead of us... i am talking about the big "C" church, the american church...
never before have i seen in my lifetime the convergence of churches coming together to reflect the gospel as is happening today in america. thats not to say that there is still a bunch of crap going on in churches today... the momentum is shifting... the future of the church depends on churches coming together.
i am intrigued by possibility...
don't forget to dream...
F
