during the month of december we will uncover, conspire, and remove the conventional trappings of the modern meaning of christmas.
what if instead of giving more presents...
we gave more presence?
here's a teaser... (i posted about advent conspiracy back in september... heres a video that wasn't available then... warning: it will straight mess you up.)
F
ridiculous...
i dont post videos much but saw this on josh griffin's blog (morethandodgeball.com) and had to post it...
enjoy
F
our fears will dominate our lives if we give them permission... our fears paralyze us when we give them permission... our fears strip our ability to dive to depth and center our lives... but we now know that its perfect love that drives out fear. its thru the gospel and the gospel only that we find perfect love.
our failures create a false sense of identity and force to defend ourselves ultimately resulting in our need to constantly raise self preservation as the priority in our lives. we cannot allow our failures to define us... maybe, just maybe, god will use our failures as divine detours in our lives and the lives around us.
i think a new epidemic is on the rise in america and its called busyness. it has become in the norm in my experience that when asked how i am doing or how they are doing the response always seems to be, "man, been so busy." may i submit that busyness is a very dangerous spot to be in? when we are doing so much, we cannot be possibly doing much well, but just as dangerous as busyness is, boredom is equally destructive. it seems like its in the moments of boredom that sin creeps its way subtly and deeply. we need to learn how to say no to some things and yes to other things. how we spend our time defines us...
may we no longer be defined by our fears, failures and poor time management.
may we learn to dream...
F
i have to say that this is probably the biggest experiment that we have ever tested here at the REALM. seriously... lets pick one of the worst possible nights for a teenager to want to attend something, very limited promo, so organic that i could not even really communicate well what it would look like, no program, completely unscripted... and oh by the way, were going to worship and pray for like 6 hours...
its amazing that anyone came, let alone 45 teenagers that seriously want to learn how to pray and pursue the heart of god.
so... here we go... a journey to exploring what a life a prayer looks like...
i wonder what will happen.
F
is a laboratory of sorts...
its an experiment
in the art of creating culture...
in creating belonging...
in creating home...
its a place of broken people piecing life together...
F
so excited about this opportunity... this moment... this is extension of life that have this weekend to re:set, re:calibrate, to focus without distraction.
dont forget...
reset
nov 22 (saturday night at the REALM)
6:00
expectations push motivations or is it the other way around?
this much i know... or at least this is my perspective...
initially i think that what we expect in life, in our relationships, from church, etc pushes our motivation and desire for the thing that we expect most. if my expectation is to be disappointed which on some levels would be a legitimate expectation based on the history of the relationship or the experience then it would be obvious that my motivation would be lacking in that specific arena.
but...
if i had an expectation for depth, intimacy, loyalty, authenticity, for movement... then dont you think that my motivations would be different... dont you think that i would carry with me thru life a different level of anticipation?
what you expect drives your motivation... then maybe our motivations can drive our expectations.
what are you motivated to see happen in your life, in your family, in your community, in your city?
F
there was a moment... a time... a shift in responsibility... there was a momentous transference that took place... the torch was passed so to speak, when we would embrace our responsibility to bear the image of our maker.
"as you go"
as you live your life, as you are just you... reflect your maker as a visual reminder of the place from which you were rescued... from the person you were...
we are windows to life... its through us, our lives, our success, our failure, our reaction, our responses that they will see who jesus is... we are samples of who we were meant to be.
but the reality is that it is easier to remain who we were than it is to become who we created to be.
remain or become?
both propel us forward on a journey... one remains on the edges while the other seeks to discover the essence.
F
november 22
@ the REALM
6:00pm
imagine what would happen when a community of people gather together with one purpose... to pray!
"we dont think ourselves into new ways of living... we live ourselves into new ways of thinking."
richard rohr
the journey to the core... to the essence... to the center is lived out and realized in and on the edges. the edges or circumference of life is where we realize and understand our need to journey to the center. proverbs 4:23 says that the heart is the wellspring of life... the gospel doesn't make rational, logical sense in our newtonian, cause and effect, a+b=c worldview... the gospel in a sense is a great paradox... its not logical to give life to create true life. that does not make sense with our head alone, we need our heart, the wellspring of life, to translate for us the gospel so we understand it in our context called humanity, called consumerist america.
so... were in need of a little fixin'
we need to change our perspective to understand our reality!
most of us need to be taught how to see. true seeing reveals the essence!
F
"we are a circumference people, with little access to the center. we live on the boundaries of our own lives... confusing the edges with essence, too quickly claiming the superficial as substance."
richard rohr
this discussion is a sort of continuation from the essence (no pun intended) of the conversation that we had last month... a shift in our lives from the external to the internal. a shift from being simply informed to being fully transformed. transformation only takes place as we grasp onto... surrender to... accept the gospel as our identity. this begins with recognizing our DEEP need, our soul craving for authentic relationship with jesus... who is the only one who can put the pieces back together.
the gospel is the essence of life! life just doesn't make sense without a sense of identity and destiny... and the gospel is our true identity... a relationship with christ is where life starts.
but...
we stay on the out-skirts... on the fringes... on the circumference and edges of life looking for meaning and essence and finding emptiness and loneliness. for some reason we seem to prefer the fabricated realities that life on the edges provides and it entertains us long enough to keep us there.
we need to journey to the core... journey from the edges to the essence... invite the gospel in to transform what is.
F
this series will be reminiscent of our static series last year where we lifted up some rocks to look under and see whats there...
we will move from the edges to the essence... from the circumference to the center... journey to the core and ask ourselves some pretty difficult decisions.
metamorphosis... a complete change of form, structure, or substance. the reality is that we substitute the superficial for substance. this month we will search for and in the depth of substance... in the depths of the gospel.
F
i havent posted for a week now... mainly because i havent really had much to say and honestly sometimes i get tired of always having to say something... so i have really enjoyed the time to sit back and take in, observe if you will, life... and not the stale observance of apathy and atrophy, but the observance of a student.... of a learner.
see... theres a big difference between people who are WILLING to follow and those who are EAGER to follow.
i believe that the eager people will be the ones that will create tomorrow and the willing people will be the ones that will follow them.
anyone can be willing to follow...
but i am interested in whose eager to follow!
F
