Code of Faith

I was up at 5am this morning and on the road by 6:30am.  The race started at 7:30am.  About 6:40 I found a traffic jam heading into downtown Fort Worth.  It was at this point I decided that if I race again, I will have someone drop me off.  Many people were getting out of their cars and running to the starting line while a family member or friend took over to get out of the traffic.

I drove around and found a spot where a parking meter used to be and hoped that the police would be too busy with traffic to give me a ticket.  I walked/jogged to the start line and made it with about three minutes to spare.
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The sun is at its highest and borders on unbearable.  I can feel the heat of the sun seeping through my clothing.  My lips are dry and all I taste is dust.  That same dust hangs in the air from the crowd moving in front of me.

I don’t know why I’ve been following this man around.  He came through Jericho a few weeks ago and was teaching and healing people.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  The leaders in the synagogue don’t teach like this.  They just give us rules and condemnation.  This man, they call him Jesus, even speaks against the Pharisees.  He claims to be the son of Man and I believe it.

Some of his teachings are encouraging.  He teaches that I should not be anxious.  God takes care of the birds and the flowers and He loves me so much more, so He will take care of my needs.  On the other side he teaches about repentance and perishing if I don’t.

Today was some of the hardest teachings I’ve ever heard.  He told us that if we don’t hate our family, our parents, and even our own lives, then we can’t be his disciples.  He said I have to bear my cross daily.  I have to renounce all
that I have to be his disciple.
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I woke up this morning and it was snowing. I walked around while at work today and it was snowing. I just came inside from playing in the snow. And it was still snowing. It looks like there is at least a half a foot of snow on the ground.  I drove to and from work and I wasn’t worried or complaining about being out in this.  I was actually enjoying it.  I guess it reminds me of my childhood. Also seeing your everyday landscape instantly transformed by a blanket of snow just affects your perspective. Read More

I picked up Getting Things Done by David Allen last summer and worked my way through about half the book. There were a lot of good things I picked out.

• I purchased a physical inbox and process everything in it every couple of days.
• I created a filing system and bought a label maker to simply the process.
• I made a moleskin replacement out of old plastic covers from a notebook and duct tape. I also got a pen, the Zebra F-301 Compact, which fits comfortably in my pocket.

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I was cleaning my apartment the other day and was moving the old computers I have laying around.  I also noticed that I had run out of shelf space and had just crammed books in various places.

Then the thought occurred to me to re-purpose  the old computer cases.  From the front it looks like an old computer that has passed its prime.
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This New Year was truly the turning of a page.  I graduated from seminary last month and so now I feel like I have this wide expanse before me.  The only problem is I don’t know which way to go.  I’ve got a lot of ideas rolling around in my head.  However, many of these hair-brained ideas lead to the five years that prefaced my coming to seminary. Read More

It finally hit me this morning.  My seminary career is at a close.  When I moved here four years ago, I couldn’t envision actually graduating.  I came here with the simple leading of the Spirit.  No audible call, no clear direction, no vision and no idea of what the future held.  I simply knew that this was the next step. Read More

I’ve had the privilege of attending the Willow Creek Leadership Summit the last two years. Last year, I didn’t really know what to expect. This year, with my upcoming field study, I had a sense of anticipation. There were a lot of great speakers and this year there were a lot of small statements that spoke directly to me. They were convicting and I’m still working to live these out. Here are a few of the statements that stood out to me. Read More

I had to write a book digest for my Adult Small Groups class and decided I would go ahead and post it.  Part of the assignment was to come up with a guiding principle from each chapter.  These principles would be used by those starting small groups.

Bonhoeffer wrote this book while working at an underground seminary living with 25 students.  He is very systematic and prescriptive in this book.  He begins by looking at what Christian community is and is not.  He then moves on to discuss how the community is to fellowship at various points of the day.  Following this, he looks at how the individual is to go about their individual devotions which in turn will strengthen the community.  Bonhoeffer concludes the book by looking at the ministries that the community is to perform for one another and how confession and communion are to occur within the community.
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Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:5-7

How many times have I read passages on humility and pride and thought, “I’m doing ok in this area.” And then I go about my day. There have been other times that I have stared at the word “humility” trying to understand what it really means. Read More