Taking off my Shoes

In chronological order, not order of significance, once again.

1-26-14 (PG) Jesus will not be a means to an end. He must be our goal.

2-23-14 (Brian Bantum) Jesus says, “This is the thing that you are about, and I want you to give it up to bless another.”

5-11-14 (PB) I am not asking you to do something. I am asking you to become something.

9-14-14 (PB): Jesus saw a man carrying his mat. The man’s answer had nothing to do with what Jesus saw–the reality of God.

11-23-14 (PB): We are “kingdom naturalists,” pointing out evidence of God to those who don’t see.

11-23-14 (Alexia Salvatierra)–all of it. “If you practicer mercy with all your heart, it will lead you to justice.”

Note: This year’s most life-altering sermons came with no sound bites. Coby on structuring time, Pastor Brenda on Ferguson.

Well, it’s been awhile. Let’s come back with a few good books, shall we?

1. The New Jim Crow

2. Life After Life

3. The Boys in the Boat

4. Dinner, A Love Story

5. The Goldfinch

6. Holy Is the Day

7. All the Light we Cannot See

8. Sisterland

9. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

10. Big Little Lies

Rereads: Girl Meets God, Animal Dreams, Eat Pray Love, A Prayer for Owen Meany

Thanks for today, God.

For the reminder that because I can does not mean that I must. 

For the knowledge that I am one of many “on the front lines of the kingdom of God.”

For the reminder that a little selfishness is okay, necessary sometimes, to preserve our souls.

For the ability to sometimes face my fears, but sometimes rest in your presence.

For peace in what is and what is to come. 

For sleep and oatmeal and yoga and blankets and sweaters and soup and Olympics. I am richly, richly blessed. 

“I will bless the Lord forever, I’ll bless your holy name…..You ask me who do I say that you are, and I say you are the Christ, Son of the Living God.” 

(In chronological order, not order of significance)

1-20-13 (PG, channeling MLK): “The ultimate test of one’s faith is his ability to say ‘but if not…'”

2-3-13 (PB) Reconciliation is a message only the church can preach, because it is a spiritual reality, not a sociological reality.

2-10-13 (David and Joy Dillon) “Find those places where God has called you to stay.”

2-17-13 (Brian Bantum) What is God going to ask me to do today that will violate part of who I think I am? My identity is now “me and Christ.”

9-1-3 (PG) Freedom from the bondage of ourselves allows us to be for the other.

9-29-13 (PE) The answer isn’t where we’re going but to whom we release all things. 

Same day: Our concern should not be a lack of clarity, but a lack of humility.

10-20-13 (PB) We have to live so close to God that what matters to God matters to us (James Forbes)

12-8-13 (PB) Christ came to bring shalom–the wholeness of God for people and nations. Straighten it out, prepare the way.

Hi! It’s been a while! Best books of 2013….(numerical rankings, as always, open to whims and revisions).
1. Seven (Jen Hatmaker)
2. David and Goliath (Malcom Gladwell)
3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
4. The Rosie Project
5. Where’d You Go, Bernadette
6. Quiet: The Hidden Power of Introverts
7. Wonder
8. The Brothers K
9. Bread and Wine (Shauna Niequist)
10. All Roads Lead to Austen