tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19993514153275345792024-03-07T07:09:07.976+01:00sunken churchJason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.comBlogger235125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-57973832673893760942023-01-24T13:57:00.001+01:002023-01-24T13:57:26.439+01:00PainPain. <div>Aches and pains. </div><div>Numb. </div><div>Blind and dumb. </div><div>Shifting, burning, </div><div>Aching, throbbing, </div><div>Pain. </div><div><br /></div><div>Gift of age,
Curse brings rage</div><div>That builds and tears </div><div>On wounds and fears </div><div>Like coils of rope, </div><div>Draining hope.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yet on I walk, </div><div>‘Er this one thought, </div><div>With pain comes patience </div><div>And grateful thanks </div><div>Of days gone by, </div><div>And future bright.</div>Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-76263337851024128802021-10-26T10:14:00.000+01:002021-10-26T10:14:06.687+01:00Form vs Function<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoyjDvCRv9EcVRfaqmbodoz5JGbwbvNSHnx6P1hWxUYnlZ8sjVX-PaHNz21AvuWqcfHI2ZuGS5_kEHD1haPXPB6NrLpjE8xXPxkmaLsMH5HhjXPKwnssCvA_tA1bYto3aCA820FrcDttc/s2048/beasty--HxIhfS_dUk-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1152" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoyjDvCRv9EcVRfaqmbodoz5JGbwbvNSHnx6P1hWxUYnlZ8sjVX-PaHNz21AvuWqcfHI2ZuGS5_kEHD1haPXPB6NrLpjE8xXPxkmaLsMH5HhjXPKwnssCvA_tA1bYto3aCA820FrcDttc/w226-h400/beasty--HxIhfS_dUk-unsplash.jpg" width="226" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Photo by </span><a href="https://unsplash.com/@beastydesign?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="text-align: left;">beasty .</a><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">on</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/form-function-architecture?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="text-align: left;">Unsplash</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br />In the course of meeting with clients, whether in homes or on commercial construction sites, I often witness the very real, the very often frustrating (though not always calamitous) clash that happens when an architect's design meets with the constraints of gravity, angles and deductions. It is a tension I often find myself holding both ends of.</p><p>In my world of selling window coverings, I almost always start with function. Do you want sun control? Insulation? Privacy? Room darkening? Knowing those answers allow me to better recommend different treatments or products. Once we look at the options, clients can settle on a form: a roman shade, plantation shutters, or a drapery.</p><p>This reminds me of a conversation I had recently with a friend about tensions we feel in church, about the natural tendency to go from small, natural and organic to large, structured and programmed. Or the pull to make something as relational as spiritual development into a curriculum or a one-size-fits-all program.</p><p>Tim Woodroof wrote about this in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Church-That-Flies-Restoration-Churches/dp/0970083610/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=church+that+flies&qid=1635237630&qsid=140-1572223-5931053&sr=8-1&sres=0970083610%2CB00QEFK5A0%2CB096TN9MHT%2CB0881Q8C1Y%2CB09K1XFQYC%2CB01843CZZC%2C0141181222%2CB08QBFRQJ3%2C1600614582%2C0988243784%2C1565233948%2C0375812024%2CB0063JEEEA%2C1565234464%2CB085FZMTT6%2C1846660874&srpt=ABIS_BOOK" target="_blank">A Church That Flies</a>. In it he describes the tension between form and function. In very simple terms, form is the shape a thing takes or the way it appears in the world. Function is the purpose for which a thing is in the world.</p><p>The author uses the situation that we read about in Acts 15 where the church in Antioch was beginning to take on legs of its own and the baby was not looking as much like the parents as the parents wished. The leaders in Jerusalem were concerned because what they thought was important or essential was not being taught or lived out like they thought it should. The church in very Gentile Antioch was experiencing things that the church in very Jewish Jerusalem was not.</p><p>One Gospel.</p><p>Two contexts.</p><p>What to do? What began as rigid demands that someone adhere to old ways or comply with legal standards ended in grace, wisdom and freedom. What had the potential to snuff out a growing movement of men and women being transformed by the Gospel was challenged and changed. What we see is the incredible trust the Father has given his people to take the function he desires and to let it take on the forms necessary to take root in the nations of the world.</p><p>Where do you see form and function at play in your world? In your church context? What forms are taken for granted? How and when do we stop and examine the function behind the form? And what could the church look like in your context if you had the courage to let it?</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-19806230755728758042020-10-29T15:02:00.001+01:002020-10-29T15:02:49.971+01:00One Simple Image to Get Unstuck in the Spiritual Disciplines<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgri40QIMQd13bCEvm1D2qQSshmxQHx9dofkwv5zEmk6Ukyro6nViUiQxTwitGxYdK1FGsXUqzp28ELcTNNCCSB2nFUb-zMViIq6pKV-89WqTrPlOR4TqrZBMRg59csHkkDIY4MNFQeypk/s2048/nathan-dumlao-xvacAs7KyM4-unsplash-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgri40QIMQd13bCEvm1D2qQSshmxQHx9dofkwv5zEmk6Ukyro6nViUiQxTwitGxYdK1FGsXUqzp28ELcTNNCCSB2nFUb-zMViIq6pKV-89WqTrPlOR4TqrZBMRg59csHkkDIY4MNFQeypk/s320/nathan-dumlao-xvacAs7KyM4-unsplash-2.jpg" /></a></div>It's so natural for us to want to see results, to get something in return for time or energy or heart invested. When we come to the spiritual disciplines, most of us know that the promise isn't an immediate return. Most of us know that it's more about a lifestyle or a journey.<p></p><p>And yet.</p><p>And yet I catch myself expecting, looking, wanting to see tangible results. I'm an action oriented, results driven kind of guy. This slow, tedious plodding grates at my body.</p><p>So I find myself in a season where I'm diving back in. Fiddling with fasting. Playing at prayer. Dabbling in reflective journaling. Walking along in the dark under a canopy of stars, breath visible in the cold, my prayers go out and seem unheard, aimless. I listen and hear nothing.</p><p>Confiding this recently with some close friends, one of them shared an image that really landed and stuck in my soul.</p><p>A trellis.</p><p>He said, "<i>The spiritual disciplines are like a trellis for the soul</i>."</p><p>I know what a trellis is. You don't wander the streets of seaside Italian towns like we have and not know what they are. I've got a backyard garden with several that hold up zucchinis and peppers and beans. The concept is simple: a solid, vertical guide to which a living organism can attach itself in order to rise off the ground and approach the sun.</p><p>I smile as I type.</p><p>Brilliant.</p><p>I am a living organism who desperately wants to rise above the ground I was buried in. I need something solid and vertical that I can attach myself to, that will take me higher and help me approach the source of life.</p><p>A trellis.</p><p>Suddenly, the frustration I feel about not sensing God's presence, about not hearing his voice. About not seeing results. Suddenly, the frustration is muted. The impatience diminished. It's replaced with a gentle reminder that as I practice these age old disciplines, I am allowing the tendrils of my soul to grab hold of solid, trusted guides that bring me ever higher.</p><p>Can you relate to <b>feeling stuck</b>? Find yourself <b>giving up</b>? <b>Struggle to muster up the energy</b> to try again? Can I encourage you to let this image give you strength to give it another shot?</p><p>(<a href="https://albministry.org/NewsAndEvent/SPIRITUAL-DISCIPLINES%20/List%20of%20Disciplines.pdf" target="_blank">Here</a> is a handy list of some of the basic disciplines.)</p><p><br /></p>Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-3741822618645701862019-11-21T13:28:00.002+01:002019-11-21T13:28:27.249+01:00Landscape<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The landscape is changing. Do you sense it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Can you feel it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I heard a podcaster recently refer to the incessant and drastic changes in our culture like the tide going out and that imagery really clicks with me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The first time I came to the sleepy town of New Braunfels was in 1994. I flew down to visit a cheerleader named Heather. I was in love, so many of my first memories of this town are framed by the ethereal, cloudy giddiness of infatuation. I still remember the moment I realized that her parents, who would become my in-laws and friends, lived on a lake. I remember walking down and standing on the wooden deck and taking the scenery in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">That deck has played host to so many events in the last 25 years: passionate kisses by moonlight, oohs and aahs on fourths of July, rehearsal dinners, late night, cigar fueled conversations, early morning quiet times, and celebrations galore. All of those played out on a deck that overlooked Lake Dunlap, a long, skinny body of water held up by a dam on the Guadalupe River.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">On the morning of May 14th of this year, the dam burst and the lake was drained. What was once broad and deep became narrow and shallow. What once moved downstream in proud silence, now leaps and plays in rocky rapids and twists and turns. Where once water skis and pontoon boats were constants, now hosts kayaks and tubers. We recently hosted a company dinner on the deck and I asked those assembled if they could guess what I had seen there, for the first time in twenty-five years. The answer? Fly fishermen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The landscape is changing. What we once took for granted has slipped through our fingers. How do we respond? We can wail and lament. Surely there is room and space for some of that. We can grumble and complain, but that will only lead to bitterness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The day after the dam burst, I remember walking out on the deck and surveying the new reality. I stood where I had jumped so many times before into water so deep I couldn’t touch the bottom and looked down to see dry ground. And there, impaled in the drying mud was a rusty stop sign.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I believe what is called for is adapting. The equipment and methods that once worked without effort now have to be rethought and reshaped. The patterns and schedules once followed by habit and rote memory must now be rewritten, rescripted. We don’t change who we are in terms of our values or our essence. But how we navigate the new reality changes. We bring who we are to bear on it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The landscape is changing. How will we respond? Will we wail and lament? Will we demand that things go back to the way they were? Or will we let the new reality emerge and respond with the grace and creativity the Father’s spirit fills us with?</span></div>
Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-8892755559866657062019-10-07T13:09:00.005+01:002019-10-10T02:20:28.145+01:00Greenroom vs Greenhouse<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">I heard a comment on a <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-43-an-interview-with-david-kinnaman/id1216399842?i=1000450231367" target="_blank">podcast</a> the other day that has had me thinking. It was in the middle of a conversation about yet another church leader that made a big public announcement about rejecting Christianity. The comment was something like this: The greenroom is a lousy place to grow your faith.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Greenroom? I had to look it up. Do you know what a greenroom is? It’s a sitting room or parlor where performers hang out before or after they are on stage, or during a performance when they aren’t involved. As I read the definition, some of my favorite scenes from movies like That Thing You Do and A Mighty Wind came to mind. “Ah! Guy…see what the world looks like through those.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The sentiment behind the statement was this: if the bulk of your ministry takes place on or around the stage, there are dangers and downsides. If I let my mind wander there, I could see how a faith grown in a Greenroom might lead to:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">What to do? What do do? Here’s an idea: What if colleges and schools and church staff and music producers and concert venue managers encouraged greenrooms to be more like greenhouses?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">What is a greenhouse? I would venture to say a greenhouse would be a terrific place to grow your faith. It is an environment where conditions are managed to foster real, organic growth, where things are alive, multiplying, where there is fruit and flourishing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The question behind the Sunken Church is pertinent here. What does the Church look like, in this culture, for this generation, when it is drawn up out of the waters we’ve submerged it in?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I love the question posed by David Kinnaman in his latest book as he helps us wrestle with raising resilient followers of Jesus in the church today. Take away the stage and the Sunday morning service, but leave the mission of the church in place. What does it look like for this generation?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">It better look a whole lot more like a greenhouse than a greenroom. If not, we can expect nothing more than what we are seeing more of: hollow, shallow, performance driven gatherings and buildings that are empty shells or museums. Instead, let us replace fluorescent bulbs with sunlight. Let us replace a well stocked bar with honest, intentional conversations. Let us reorganize and reprogram and rebuild for real, healthy, authentic green house faith.</span></div>
Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-32602183254505742652019-09-06T21:38:00.000+01:002019-09-06T21:38:06.844+01:00Loved<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">I started a new Christmas tradition a couple of years ago. I decided I don’t want any more socks or shirts from my kids for Christmas. No more robes, books, knives or desk decor. What I want now, for the rest of my life from my kids for Christmas, is a song.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">So I chose one. One that meant something to me. One that I hope they will play at my funeral. I entrusted it to them, asking them to perform it for me, and then let it go. Weeks and months went by and I had no clue if they were preparing. I would drop an occasional hint, but I tried to let it take shape on its own. As fall moved into winter, I began to hear notes and sounds and a smile would cross my lips. Anticipation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Last Christmas our whole family gathered at my parents’ cabin in the woods. One night that week I organized an impromptu talent show and began gathering a list of acts from brothers and nephews and nieces. The kids were going to perform my gift as the centerpiece of the show.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">We laughed and listened, clapped and cheered as different family members shared. Then it was my kids’ turn. They gathered before the fireplace: Jacob on the cajon, Harrison on the keyboard, Jenova on xylophone and Haven on guitar. Haven took the lead vocal and they began.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">My song. A gift for me. Yet, what I received was not what I expected. What happened as I soaked in the experience was altogether different. I found myself watching each of them as they concentrated on notes and words and I noticed that each would look up every few beats to catch my eyes. In each of those eye contacts I was surprised. There was depth, there were questions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“Do you like it?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“Are you pleased?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“Do we have your favor?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I leaned forward in my chair and began trying to catch their eyes, transmitting love and delight as I met each of them and as the final note played and everyone began clapping, we hugged and laughed and I told them how much I loved them, how much I loved their song.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Reflecting on it now, having just requested my next Christmas song, it makes me wonder. God invites us and calls us to live the way he designed, the way he showed us through his son. The only way to do that is to trust that what he did really changes things and that what he said is true. That trust leads to a life lived freely, truly, to a life that is full.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Does he give you glimpses of his pleasure with you? Are you looking up to him for validation, for affirmation? Do you know that he longs to catch your eye and transmit to your spirit how delighted he is with you? Look up and know that you are loved.</span></div>
Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-82294255483052359872019-05-27T15:44:00.003+01:002019-05-27T16:44:52.128+01:00Finding Grace on the SlopesI was ten years old the first time I went skiing. And it should have been fun. It should have been an adventure. It should have been memorable. It was none of those things. I hated it and have blocked most of the memories from my mind save for the feeling of cold, wet frustration. In those formative years, the identity I was forging was wrapped around appearing successful, about looking good. Skiing definitely didn't fit the category so I decided to never do it again.<br />
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Until 2019.<br />
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Danny and Chrissy Tovar have become some of our closest friends over the past couple of years and they talked us into it. I fought and resisted, made excuses and procrastinated, but they were persuasive and in the end, I caved. We put dates on the calendar and set money aside, we were going. Destination: Pagosa Springs, Colorado.<br />
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We took our youngest two and they were excited. It wasn't until the first morning on the slopes that they realized what all is involved in skiing. If you've never been, it's quite an experience. It was snowing and blowing hard that day, which made all of this more difficult. After buying our tickets we waited to be fitted with boots and skis and shown how the equipment works. Then we trudged through the snow carrying everything to the bunny slope where our instructor (who turned out to be really lousy) began our four hour lesson.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgZvn4lw8jtd2dk3RSe7tpdLJ3ExH131MvQV8uZMSuUZjd9qFtJ9xory9qUi5WjnXh3MxmKn9yTEc6Mh-61A2Wa2Tzh-KKoCKpTWhlvDE73b9FBJAzZ0eGK2u8zS0zudxH1wgennyUnCs/s1600/veronica-kei-675555-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgZvn4lw8jtd2dk3RSe7tpdLJ3ExH131MvQV8uZMSuUZjd9qFtJ9xory9qUi5WjnXh3MxmKn9yTEc6Mh-61A2Wa2Tzh-KKoCKpTWhlvDE73b9FBJAzZ0eGK2u8zS0zudxH1wgennyUnCs/s320/veronica-kei-675555-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a>Throughout the lesson, Danny and Chrissy would come and check on us before heading off to enjoy the blue and black runs. At the end of that first day, the instructor convinced me I was ready for the easiest of the blues. I was scared and felt pressured, but went along. Danny came with us. Heather and the kids had had enough and headed to the lodge.<br />
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We rode the lift to the top of the peak and started our way down. I fell. A lot. Over and over, I would get up, adjust my equipment, run through all the lessons in my head and then wipe out. Hard. Each time I was afraid I would twist a knee or hurt my back. I was nauseous and the storm made it hard to see very far ahead. We came upon a narrow section where the left side of the slope was a steep drop into deep powder and I clung to the right bank, slowly waddling down as little kids zipped by me.<br />
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By the time I got to the bottom, I was done. We packed it up and headed back to our condo. My whole family had had enough. No interest in going back. Everyone had counseled us to get back up and try a second day, but we had no desire. I felt like a failure again, embarrassed all over gain.<br />
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The next day we stayed at the condo. We played an eight hour game of Rail Baron and nursed our sore bodies. We ate good food and processed our first day with the Tovars. That afternoon, the question of whether or not we would try a second day again came up. I did not want to, but felt that competitive spirit rising in me. Danny and Chrissy, both, gently encouraged us to try it again, to give it a fresh start. So we did.<br />
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The second day was much better. It was sunny and clear. Heather did better, but was ready to call it a day. Harrison was feeling better and by lunchtime was off with Danny to ski down the blues. Jenova overcame her fear when she found a new and better instructor. She had mastered the bunny slope and I finally convinced her to try the intermediate one.<br />
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Three hours later, she was jumping off the lift and soaring down the slope in front of me. I was able to make it down consecutive times without falling. The truth is, though, I still wiped out from time to time. Hard. My kids did better than I did. I was a 43 year-old beginner. Toward the end of that second day, I lay on my back in deep powder after wiping out. High above me, people passed overhead on a lift and shouted down encouragement, "Get back up! You got this!"<br />
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That evening we sat, exhausted, around a table at a pizza pub and ate delicious food and drank cold brews and I found myself getting choked up. Why? We had experienced grace on the slopes of Pagosa Springs. Danny and Chrissy had pushed us gently, provided everything we needed and walked with us when they could have easily run on ahead or judged us or mocked us, or even just put up with us.<br />
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We will go again. We all want to, even though Heather may stay in the lodge. Grace has left a good taste in our mouths. My shame, my failing have been redeemed because someone was willing to extend me undeserved favor.<br />
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<span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #111111; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "san francisco" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "ubuntu" , "roboto" , "noto" , "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: nowrap;">Photo by </span><a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/F8fHwvIOsr0?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-skip: ink; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out; white-space: nowrap;">Veronica Kei</a><span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #111111; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "san francisco" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "ubuntu" , "roboto" , "noto" , "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: nowrap;"> on </span><a href="https://unsplash.com/search/photos/skiing?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-skip: ink; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out; white-space: nowrap;">Unsplash</a>Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-52681838154493068152019-04-29T21:31:00.001+01:002019-04-29T21:31:30.986+01:00Thanks, Amy.There is a photo of me at the age of two or three, asleep on a cushion with big, black retro headphones over my ears connected to a record player by a rubbery, coiled audio cable. Supposedly, it was the tunes of J.S. Bach that had put me to sleep. According to research, that experience was likely very formative on my toddler brain and psyche, melding left and right brain functions, creating pathways and pegs in the squishy material of my mind.<br />
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Yesterday I was coming home from a long day installing draperies in Austin, riding shotgun with John, our company's most experienced employee. I consider John a friend, a spiritual mentor and a brother in Christ and our occasional trips together usually include theological conversations (usually light debate between Calvin & Campbell) and old songs and hymns. In passing, he mentioned an Amy Grant song I hadn't heard or thought about in years. It led me to a series of long buried memories...<br />
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I can't remember if it was for Christmas or a Birthday, but my parents gave me this at the age of 10 or 11: a brand new, shiny, red Sony Walkman cassette player. <br />
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Shortly after, a young couple on my parents' team gave me this: Amy Grant's "scandalous" Unguarded on cassette.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlPNftDeiEfAjoOObdBsLpORSZU2xKCUqQd6939A_8RQliabmUSJfccRw8bHzp8I6VVd9Bm_3cOyxgpNCNXj9x27_NPxkGNyIfg9c6nIHYmjFfuOqcucLxC9p3MY8z67AdAbVG76OCK_0/s1600/220px-Unguarded.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlPNftDeiEfAjoOObdBsLpORSZU2xKCUqQd6939A_8RQliabmUSJfccRw8bHzp8I6VVd9Bm_3cOyxgpNCNXj9x27_NPxkGNyIfg9c6nIHYmjFfuOqcucLxC9p3MY8z67AdAbVG76OCK_0/s400/220px-Unguarded.jpg" /></a></div>
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I was mesmerized and hooked. The ability to walk around with music that no one else could hear felt like Amy was singing directly to me. A one-man concert. Listening to that album again this week and sharing it with Heather, I was amazed at how many of the lyrics we still remembered, words that were written somewhere deep in us. Memories and emotions returned with them and as I look back I can see how those songs, those words, that music shaped me, formed me.<br />
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I can look back now and see how this one album challenged my pre-teen self, how it strengthened my faith and made me think, made me imagine.<br />
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All of that makes me wonder how the music we listen to disciples us, one way or another. I watch my kids learn to choose the music they listen to and I watch their friends. Engaging my teenagers in conversation about the artists they follow, the lyrics they listen to, I'm trying to help them see how those lyrics form them and inform them. They pass on values and a worldview. They embed themselves in their minds and their spirits.<br />
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The more we become an ear bud culture where we walk around to the tune of our own one-person concerts, the more we put music on loops and have messages repeatedly blasted into the delicate combination of mind, body, soul and spirit.<br />
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How is the music you listen to discipling you?Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-33514570817623754742019-02-18T23:44:00.000+01:002019-02-18T23:44:53.635+01:00Praying with Authority<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">A couple of years ago, a friend and coach shared a daily prayer ritual with me that I’ve adopted and morphed into my own practice and I love how it focuses my attention, sharpens my perspective as I pray. One of the elements in the prayer has to do with authority.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">There seems to be this back and forth in Scripture, two extremes that we bounce off of. On one extreme, we have Jesus praising the tax collector who beats his chest, eyes downcast, ‘Have mercy on me, a sinner.’ We read the Psalmist write that God won’t despise a broken spirit and contrite heart. Mary sings about how the LORD has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. James and Peter both admonish the church to humble themselves and to let God be the one to lift them up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">OK, but we bear his Image. We are baptized into his Name. He is IN us. His Spirit abides in us. We are co-heirs, sons and daughters, friends of Jesus. We are commissioned by and with the authority given to Jesus. It harks back to the beginning of the story when Adam was given authority to care, to tend, to name, a calling to subdue, to have dominion. It paints a picture that we get a glimpse of in the Parable of the Talents - we are called upon to steward well what He gives us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">How do we live with and within these extremes? How do we hold in one hand humility without it becoming pride and how do we hold in the other authority without it becoming self-centered or manipulative. Maybe, it’s not a problem to be solved, but a tension to manage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Daily.</span></div>
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<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">So we start in a kneeling posture and we pray: Father, apart from you, I am nothing. I don’t deserve your love or grace. Every inclination of my flesh is toward sin and power and criticism, hypocrisy and violence.</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Then we place one foot down and lean on one knee and we pray: thank you Father for Jesus, for the sacrifice that is enough, that pays the price for my freedom. Thank you that because of Him, I am worthy, I am enough, that there is no condemnation. Thank you for designing me, for breathing Life into me.</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Then we stand on two feet and straighten our backs and we acknowledge with arms open: Father, as you gave all authority to your Son, as his emissary, I operate under and within that authority. His name and banner are over me. All that I have comes from him and belongs to him, but is placed in my hands and in my care for me to tend, care for, shepherd and grow. I bring my story, my pain, my loss, my gain, my possessions, my territory, my relationships, my reputation, my skills, my abilities, my legacy under your canopy, under your authority and operate today with freedom, joy and power.</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Finally, we begin walking, moving and as we go, we pray: To the ends of the earth and to the end of the age, you are with me. We are co-operators, co-heirs, co-laborers. We are members of a Beautiful Bride. We are banner wavers and witness bearers. In humility, we bring authority to every interaction, every conversation, every decision, every relationship, every opportunity, every day, every night, every meal, every embrace, every conflict. The Kingdom expands and arrives as we move, because the Kingdom of Heaven is in us.</span></li>
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Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-88422161222162449492018-08-17T18:02:00.000+01:002018-08-17T18:04:50.133+01:00The Mystical Mundane<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Twenty-two years ago today, we awoke in separate beds, in separate houses. It was a bright, Texas summer day, a high of almost 99 degrees. We were young, barely adults, giddy, stressed, but oblivious. Neither of us really knew what we were getting into, other than each other’s arms and hearts. We didn’t dwell much on the fact that much more would be blended and formed in the days and years to come. Surrounded by friends and family, we vowed, exchanged, laughed, cried and danced. We came together in ways both mystical and mundane that day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">And we still do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Dirty dishes and diapers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Building bonds and breaking barriers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Late night tears and early morning prayers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Homework and housework, yard work and heart work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Raised voices and hushed whispers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Bills, pills, spills and thrills.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">All of it, my love,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">every drop,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">every stop,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">every hug,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">every shrug,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">every rout,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">every doubt,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">every trip,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">every flip,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">every no,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">every blow,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">every yes,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">every mess.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">In the mystical mundane, I love your heart, your soul, your mind.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I am yours for all time.</span></div>
Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-33326984445282469832018-07-16T15:36:00.000+01:002018-07-16T15:36:01.299+01:00Humility<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">One of our company's values is being a positive, transformative presence. This has applications both here, internally and as we interact with vendors and clients, outwardly. If this value is present, then every time I interact with you, you will feel honored, listened to, cared for and you will leave better off than when we interacted. One of the pillars of being a positive, transformative presence is humility.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">A good definition for humility is: not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. (I believe this comes from </span><a href="http://www.bloggingtheologically.com/2015/12/11/what-cs-lewis-wrote-is-better-than-what-he-didnt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" target="_blank">Rick Warren</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">.)</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Many, many people get this wrong or backwards.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Humility can be seen in lots of ways in our day to day interaction: who jumps on the phone, who offers to wash the dishes, who hops up to install the job no one wants to or meet on a Saturday or after hours.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Humility is thinking about the people around you more than yourself and positioning yourself in such a way that you can help, serve and encourage them.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">It’s easy to see, but takes discipline to develop into a habit.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> At its core, it’s rooted in a healthy understanding that you, are NOT, at the center of the universe.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Understanding this and practicing this allows us to be be confident and clear when people ask us about Hodell.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> Humility doesn't mean we are groveling people with eyes cast to the ground. </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">We aren’t, however, bragging or showing off either. Humility means being confident in knowing who we are and choosing to put ourselves and our needs second to those we interact with.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> "</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Hodell is Here" means that interacting with us won’t be about us, our needs, tooting our own horn.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> "</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Hodell is Here" means they will be interacting with a group of people committed to putting them and their needs above our own.</span></div>
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Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-85114323232761084142018-07-11T12:50:00.000+01:002018-07-11T12:50:43.071+01:00The Story<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: 11px;">What has become the backbone of our time as a family on Sunday mornings is the Story.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: 11px;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: 11px;">There’s something about saying, together, as a family: this is the story we believe.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: 11px;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: 11px;">This is the story that we are a part of.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: 11px;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: 11px;">This is how we got here.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: 11px;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: 11px;">This is why we are here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Each time it is the same story and yet each time the telling is different. Each time the emphasis is the same but different parts are highlighted. Each time I stop and ask what comes next at different points.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">So it goes something like this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">We don’t know where he comes from or why. We don’t know anything about him before this story, we just know how this part starts. It starts in darkness. And he speaks and it is good. Light is formed, and sky. Land and seas. Planets and stars, moons and patterns. Ravens and whales. Ants and plants. And then something different. The hands of this lead character from out of dust, the body of man, and he breathes life into his lungs. He is male. First man. He bears the very image of the lead and it is very good. And then the lead, the main character rests.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The first man is tasked with caring for and cultivating a garden, with naming animals. The lead character, labeled God, wants good for the man and creates for him a perfect companion, someone who comes from him, is like him and yet unlike him, who also bears the image of God. She is woman and they fit together like one flesh and they work and live and play without shame in this great garden, walking with God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">They have everything they need and along slinks a new character. We don’t know where he comes from or why. We don’t know anything about him before this story, we just know how this part starts. He takes the form of a serpent and he whispers to the woman.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The essence of the whisper goes something like this: this God guy is no good guy. He can’t be trusted. Look at the power he has over you. Can you believe he would keep you from enjoying everything that is in this garden?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">And she takes the bait, bites into it. They both do, woman and man, choose to not trust this lead character, they choose to take things into their own hands and they, together with the serpent, bring on themselves a curse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">They are cloaked in shame, clothed in the skins of the first sacrifice, and evicted from the garden. The serpent is banished to his belly and the lead character, God, says that one of the offspring of this woman will someday crush him, would make things right.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">From there we pick up the pace and jump from Noah to Abram and the Promise, again, that from his offspring all nations would be blessed. He is called to sacrifice his one and only son and he does not hesitate, though it doesn’t make sense. At the last moment his hand is stayed and a ram is provided, foreshadowing a future event that doesn’t make sense, an event so potent that the very fibers of reality will fray and dance in its wake.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Isaac has twins and the ornery one marries sisters and together with their concubines he has twelve children. The youngest is sold into slavery by his brothers and goes from prisoner and slave to ruler and savior. He is later reconciled to his family and moves them all to Egypt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The story continues on with Moses, the prince of Egypt turned shepherd who trusts God and frees his people from the Pharaoh after ten signs that counter the gods of the Egyptians, the final one, again, showing the need for the sacrifice of a lamb.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Israel is freed and wanders in the desert, receiving the Law, whom God himself knows they won’t be able to keep. While they wander he lives among them, in the Tabernacle. They enter the land promised to Abram and we talk about the judges, the kings, the prophets, and the exile. And the people are called back and are under Roman rule, longing for a king to come along and restore them as a nation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">And along comes another character, the one promised long ago, born to a young woman; announced by angels and searched out by shepherds and astrologers and kings. His name is ‘God with us.’ He lives a fairly nondescript, simple life until he is baptized by his cousin at which time the same voice that called light into existence places his stamp of approval and calling on him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">This Yeshua travels around for three years with a ragtag band of unlikelies and not-hardlys, doing wonders, giving signs, and talking about a new kind of kingdom that was about to be formed. He also tells them that he will be betrayed and killed and that he would come back, showing his love and giving proof that what he is talking about is real and true.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">And that’s what happens. Betrayed. Crucified. Buried. He is resurrected to new life and spends forty days appearing to lots of people, reminding them of what he had said, promising that the one he refers to as Father would be sending his very presence to live in them. They would become tabernacles and temples, living vessels. The Law would be written on new hearts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">He does not institute religion or rules. He says, live this life that I’ve been showing you. Trust me. Tell the world this headline story that all is forgiven. You can be renewed and made right and live like man did in the garden.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">He has gone and is preparing a new reality, a new heaven and earth and our life will go on into that one, where we will live with him, in his new economy, caring for and cultivating a new land, enjoying a life free of shame and pain like it was designed to be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I know some of you that read this don’t agree. Some of you think, “Dang Jason, if you’re going to pick a fiction to believe, why not Asimov or Jordan or something a little more fanciful and fun?!” Others of you think, “Whoa, whoa, you skipped lots of details and proof and a whole lot of theology.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">That’s OK. This is the story that I believe. This is what makes sense to me. This is what I choose to believe and it is life-giving, fulfilling. It brings health to my bones and allows my soul to rest deeply. It empowers me to be a loving, gracious father and a caring, empowering husband. It leads me to be a good neighbor and a generous boss. It frees me to forgive quickly and to be ready to respond when a prompting leads me to do or say something that I wouldn’t otherwise do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">What story do you believe? What kind of life does it produce in you? Hope this helps. I wish I had been this consistent and thorough when my kids were younger. Hope this challenges you to think through what narrative you have adopted.</span></div>
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Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-24799307707208259112018-07-09T21:22:00.000+01:002018-07-11T12:51:39.672+01:00Pulling Up Stakes<br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">A few weeks ago, as a family we pulled up the stake on Sunday mornings. I won’t get into all the details and reasons. Suffice it to say, we, and I really mean, we, needed a break from “church”. We needed to pull away and let the compass reset, to process the last seven years of being a part of a traditional, non-denominational American church.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">We love the Church and we still love the church that we are connected to, and we are still connected. We host and lead a Sunday night Family Group. Our kids are still active in the Youth Group. We still participate in the Family Promise ministry. We still tithe there. We’ve just pulled up a stake. Granted, it’s a big one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">So for the past few weeks, we have gathered at home. When it was cool enough, early in the morning on our backyard patio. Now that it’s heating up, in our living room. Our oldest daughter leads us in a time of singing. Then I launch into <a href="http://marchegiansun.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-story.html" target="_blank">the Story</a> - taking us from creation to Jesus’ impending return. Then we focus on a one-word theme or topic. This is usually something that has popped up during the week or something that was impressed on me during my morning routine. We then spend a few minutes by ourselves, answering a couple of questions before coming back together to discuss and do a check-in, discussing our high and low points from the previous week. We end by taking communion together. That’s it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">It’s been very refreshing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">We don’t know how long of a break we will take. We don’t know where it will lead. But we have a peace about it and are seeing really good fruit coming out of it for the time being. Kids engaged and thinking, processing and applying. Good rhythms being put in place. Moving away from a consumption and attendance mentality and moving toward a participation posture.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I will begin posting some of the content that we have been using in case it is helpful to anyone out there. I am not encouraging anyone out there to leave their church. I am encouraging everyone to follow the Father’s prompting as they lead their family. I hope these thoughts and this content will help you.</span></div>
Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-41039708129270904192018-05-03T12:03:00.000+01:002018-05-03T12:03:03.760+01:00Out of the Fog, Out of the Blur.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I recently heard from some fellow business owners who attended SummitTrek’s 3-day LifePlan Retreat that a day or two later they found themselves deep in thought, facing some deep questions. Hearing about their experience reminded me of where I was a year ago, the first few days after Heather and I attended the same retreat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">In a fog. Blurry. That’s what it felt like. I remember it took me a while to shake it. I also remember being surprised by it. Why, after an experience so inspiring, that helped you dig, heal, and process, would you find yourself walking in a fog?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">It’s hard to believe because now, a year later, I’m walking with more clarity than ever before. I know where I’ve been and how God has redeemed that part of my story. I know where I am in the present and am learning to choose wisely and boldly and creatively. I know where I’m headed and have a degree of confidence and momentum that continue to propel me forward.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Ironically, I also had ICL surgery this week. After years of dreaming about it, I finally bit the bullet thanks to the generosity of a close friend and the excellent referral of someone in the field. For a couple of years I haven’t been able to wear contacts and my active lifestyle made glasses restrictive, so I was anxious and excited to try a procedure that claimed to eliminate the need for either.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">ICL stands for Implantable Collamer Lens. The procedure entails inserting a collamer lens behind your iris which corrects myopia and takes all of twenty minutes. And some money. Oh, and it’s life changing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">During the consultation and the pre-operative visits, the doctor and his staff told me about the risks, the numbers, the data. Essentially this is what they said:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">-Time and financial cost involved</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">-Minimal risk</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">-A great upside</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">-Minimal pain and downtime</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">-Quick recovery</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">-More mobile</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">-Lenses are removable which means you can upgrade as your eyes change</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">-Most people see even better after than before and they don’t require external aids to do so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Yesterday morning at 6:30, Heather and I drove into rush hour traffic in San Antonio and made our way to Dr Parkhurst’s office. I checked in at 7:30 and about thirty minutes, a couple dozen numbing eye drops and a couple of Valium tabs later, I was lying in a chilled surgical suite, listening to my choice of Pandora station (Oscar Peterson) and ready to roll.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Fifteen or twenty minutes went by and I walked out in a haze, with instructions and a promise. It will get clear. Give it some time. Follow the process.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Thirty minutes later, I sat in an exam chair and I could see my wife’s beautiful face as she sat in the corner eight feet away, something I couldn’t have done an hour before without glasses. Still foggy, still blurry, but I could see.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">On the drive home, I could see cars, buildings, trees, signs. Still foggy, still blurry, but I could see.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Later that evening, behind sunglasses in an auditorium on a university campus I watched my daughter’s violin recital. No glasses or contacts. The lights were still bright and things were a little foggy. A little blurry, but I could see.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I got up this morning and there was no fog. No blur. I could see and it was unreal. I walked around like it was the first day of my life, thrilling in every detail, in things I had taken for granted. Later this morning, the doctor confirmed I have 20/15 vision and it might get better.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">So, why is this ironic? </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Here’s what my friends at SummitTrek told me about the LifePlan retreat:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">-Time and financial cost involved</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">-Minimal risk</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">-A great upside</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">-Minimal pain and downtime</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">-Quick recovery</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">-More mobile</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">-You will be equipped to create a vision for your life that will guide you as you change</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">-Most people see even better after than before and they don’t require external aids to do so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">So yes, we left LifePlan last year with questions. Things were foggy for a few days. They were blurry. But we had a process to follow. It took us a bit to adjust to a new way of seeing our past, our present and our future. But we gave it some time and followed the prescriptions and vision became clear and is becoming more so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Do you feel trapped? Lost? Feel like you’re drowning? Aimless? Wandering?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I would love to talk to you about the LifePlan Retreat. Write <a href="mailto:jason.casey@hodell.com" target="_blank">me</a> or click <a href="http://summittreklifeplan.com/" target="_blank">here</a> for more information.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">And if you’re tired of wearing glasses, I know a great <a href="https://www.sanantonio-lasik.com/" target="_blank">doc</a>.</span></div>
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Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-41809347950301176592017-11-18T10:28:00.001+01:002017-11-18T10:28:48.692+01:00Redemption Comes CrashingThis year, Heather and I participated in a retreat where, at one point, we were challenged to consider the struggles, hurts and pains from our past and consider how God has redeemed them.<br />
<br />
Sounds like a pretty simple proposition framed around a large supposition. <b>Mainly, that God truly does redeem the hard things that happen to us</b>.<br />
<br />
As it turns out, I worked through the exercise and discovered that most of the heartache and pain I had been through, when looked at through this lens, really had been redeemed. The exercise asked us to list out the ways specifically, which I did, except for one.<br />
<br />
One. Even after a decade. Still doesn't make sense. I don't get it. I can't see anything good that came out of it.<br />
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And that was the battle with cancer that a young man in our church in Ancona lost. Massimiliano's death does not make sense. It doesn't fit.<br />
<br />
Just weeks after that retreat, we found ourselves at dinner with Jim & Cindy Davis, themselves battling her cancer, battling the same questions: Why? How long? What is God doing?<br />
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I shared honestly with them about the redemption exercise and how I struggled to understand Massi's death and how walking alongside them through Cindy's disease scared me. I didn't want it to happen again.<br />
<br />
And it did.<br />
<br />
And I don't.<br />
<br />
Piles and piles. Stacks and stacks. Boxes. Containers. Tubes of paints. Markers and pens. Pencils and scissors. Bags of feathers. Totes full of stencils and tools I've never seen before. An easel. Walk into my office today and you will see this:<br />
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<br />
It's a mess. A beautiful, haunting mess.<br />
<br />
Last week we hosted Angela Foster with Rapha House for lunch in our office. Our staff heard firsthand about what this amazing organization is doing to heal and restore victims of sexual trafficking around the world. At the end of the presentation, at hearing that one of the things they do is teach art to these girls and young ladies, Jim asked if they could use Cindy's supplies.<br />
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Know this: Jim dreamed of seeing his beautiful Cindy using these tools in a studio of her own.<br />
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He longed for a day when things would slow down, settle down and she could paint and draw and craft to her heart's content.<br />
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He knew there were projects unfinished, sketchbooks half filled, images partly formed and shaped.<br />
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And for whatever reason, God said, "no."<br />
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And in a blind act of heroic courage, Jim offered these tools and supplies as a humble gift. And Angela said she would take as many suitcases as it would take to get these supplies into the hands of these rescued little girls who are being restored. Whose stories are being redeemed.<br />
<br />
And as much as I don't want it to, it begins to make some sense.<br />
<br />
It's strange.<br />
<br />
Months before Cindy's death, I had approached her and commissioned a painting for our office. I told her I wanted it to be something <i>bold and vibrant</i>. Something that captured the heart of our company's vision:<br />
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<b>Hodell is here to be a positive, transformative presence, to bring light into darkness and to provide the best solution to every window covering project.</b></div>
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And I thought, bitterly, that I never got the painting I commissioned.<br />
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I stand corrected.<br />
<br />
I have this <i>bold, vibrant</i> vision of rescued little girls, holding the very tools that Cindy used to breathe life onto page and canvas, finishing her job.<br />
<br />
Maybe redemption comes in waves.<br />
<br />
It ebbs and flows.<br />
<br />
One day it starts to make sense. The next, it doesn't.<br />
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Maybe I begin to see it clearly here, but Jim just can't. Not yet.<br />
<br />
And the waves continue crashing.<br />
<br />
His hand continues leading,<br />
pressing,<br />
writing a story of redemption through the tears and on the hearts of his children.<br />
<br />
<br />Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-14745251585380080712017-11-13T04:29:00.000+01:002017-11-13T06:10:06.801+01:00A Prayer for the TraffickedFloundering in fear, shackled in shame’s chains,<br />
Bruises borne on beloved bodies, borne heavy on hearts.<br />
Deepest, darkest despair.<br />
Despondent, drugged, desperate.<br />
<br />
Hope is hopeless and ransom a distant dream.<br />
Strength squandered,<br />
Names nothing,<br />
Tender trust doused.<br />
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Faces fractured, blurred in blood.<br />
Marred masks ghastly glued.<br />
Freedom fleeting,<br />
Barely breathing.<br />
<br />
But, no.<br />
<br />
Stop!<br />
<br />
Hope is coming,<br />
Rescue rising,<br />
Longing for life,<br />
Dazzling light dashing darkness.<br />
<br />
Chains change hands.<br />
Smiles spread across scarred lips.<br />
Clean, cleansing comfort;<br />
Strong, safe embrace.<br />
<br />
Arm in arm against harm and alarm,<br />
Bring the battle!<br />
Loose the light,<br />
For those forgotten and trapped just beyond sight.<br />
<br />
Like survivors rising after a storm,<br />
Huddled and shivering and longing for warm.<br />
We open our hands and our hearts and our homes<br />
So they’ll find new life in the arms of the Lord.Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-90202881856220378672017-10-06T23:08:00.001+01:002017-10-06T23:08:42.727+01:00Left Ahead<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 30px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I'm a fast walker. It's a reflection of the way I'm wired and the way my mind works. I don't like to mess around. I'm a man on a mission. It's difficult for me to enjoy the journey. There is simply too much to do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">This summer we visited our eldest son, Jacob, who was serving an internship at a church in Rockford, Illinois. Used to traveling by myself for business, when we landed in Chicago, I began walking toward baggage claim. Three minutes in and I notice I’m by myself. I look back, still walking, and notice that my daughter is just a few steps behind me, but my wife, Heather, is almost out of sight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I impatiently wait for her to catch up before asking her to speed it up. Then I’m off again. Two or three minutes later, I stop and repeat the above encounter. This leads to frustration on my part and anxiety and hurt on her part.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I’m thinking, "I want to see my boy! I want to get in the rental car so I can get going! Daylight is burning! Chop chop!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">She’s thinking…well… </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I don’t know what she’s thinking.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">And that’s the problem.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Twenty one years, now, we have been married and this dynamic has played out time and time again and never ended well. How many times will it take?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Some of our best friends have been married as long as we have and they have been taking dance lessons for a few weeks and trying unsuccessfully to convince us to join them. It’s comical to hear about how they are doing, but insightful, too. It is causing them to learn to listen to each other, to be perceptive and to trust.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">To lead and respond.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">To move together.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The more I reflect on the dynamic in our relationship, the more I see this being left behind as a recurring symptom of what causes disruption in our oneness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">If I am not slowing down, can I hear her?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">If I am not adjusting my pace, will I know her?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">If I blindly and doggedly rush to where I’m going, will I be alone? Will anyone be following?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">How many other areas of my life is this dynamic playing out in? At work? With friends? With my children? At church? With God?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Speed for speed’s sake or efficiency for efficiency’s sake is simply wasting energy. Then again, so is fiddle-farting. (I hate that term and use it here, on purpose.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">So I have to remind myself to lead by slowing down and matching our rhythms. To stroll. To listen and engage. We will get to where we are going, it may just take a little longer. But together is better. No one wants to get left behind, and I’m tried of getting left ahead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i>The flip-side</i></b>: are you following someone like this, or trying to?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">What are some good, gentle ways you have learned to get the other’s attention?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">What are ways you have discovered to close the gap?</span></div>
Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-17717370656514249172017-03-13T12:51:00.000+01:002017-03-13T12:51:35.678+01:00New SongI will write a new song to the Lord, for he is worthy of praise! His ways are high above the ways of men. They are glorious to behold. They bring me to my knees. I am not worthy to be included, so great are his thoughts and plans. His beautiful mind knows all. His glorious eyes search out a man's spirit and He brings all things together for good. Like a weaver he pulls threads together, he pulls blues and golds and bright crimson together in the loom to make a heart-stopping beauty of a creation, a tapestry awe-inspiring to behold. Lord, your thoughts are so far beyond mine, who am I that you would reveal them to your child?<br />
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It can only be by your holy spirit that courses within me, seeking to break down the old, the rusty and crusty, the torn and worn, the tarnished and barnacled, working to make all ways within me new, and vibrant, pulsing to the rhythm of the Father's heart. It is only by the Spirit's power and ability that my dull senses are made alive and like a faint candle in a forest do I see his movement, and squint my eyes to see, to seek out its path and stumble slowly after it. It is only by his glorious quickening of my spirit and eyes that I can see and follow. I long to catch up, to where I can bask in the Spirit's presence, to let his light pool around me, to make fear dissipate altogether, to feel the warmth and safety of his presence. What a glorious path we tread together, even at night, though all around me is dark, though forms both ominous and treacherous encroach us, ever does my gaze roam, flitting back and forth from the Spirit's light to the moon that slips from treetop to treetop. What a glorious path. I would take no other. For it is along this one that my heart is tested and made strong. It is along this one that I knew the strength that you have infused me with. It is along this one that I find rest and refreshing.<br />
<br />
From time to time our path runs parallel to the other, the way of the weary. Like lifeless zombies it seems, they plod along, sick and decaying, neon light in their dead eyes, they have given up hope, taken a false name, traded a hurt heart for a chain. Low and coarse is their chant, their moan. It can be heard from over the sound of the wind as sorrow fills their lungs. They are blind and do not care. They are deaf and do not miss their hearing. They bump into one another with vicious violence, not caring, tearing paper-thin skin, chuckling melancholy, choking on tears. Oh Lord, I do not want to gaze upon that path. I praise you for opening my eyes to its plight for I once tread upon its thorny trail.<br />
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Praise be to you for freeing my spirit from its painful plodding. And as you lead me along, away from its horror, your heart yet hurts for these weary souls, for they, too, are sons and daughters, thought they know it not. They, in calloused hands, hold tattered and frayed ends of puppet strings, pulling themselves along, believing to be controlled by others, when all along, it is they that lead themselves.<br />
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Oh Lord, your ways are so good and I exult in your marvelous creation. Be not far from me. May I ever see your light and the path before me. Teach me your ways. May wisdom be my constant companion. Whisper to me by night and may I hear your roar in the morning and your laughter at noontime. Fill these woods with your Song and lead me onward to places of delight. Oh, that all may know this great joy.Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-87701769961501952152014-12-08T15:39:00.000+01:002014-12-08T15:39:53.469+01:00Fluency RamblingsLearning to understand, hear, absorb and ultimately speak the Gospel is hard; much harder than learning Spanish or Italian. I find I have fewer hooks to attach things to. In reality, it's not fewer hooks, it's that the hooks I do have are wrong. Faulty.<br />
<br />
I've read through Timothy Keller's <u>The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness</u> twice in the last two weeks: once by myself and once with my wife and both times found myself marveling at its simplicity, daring to believe that it could be that basic. I moved on to <u>Jesus + Nothing = Everything</u> and found a very similar theme. There, Tchividjian shares how learning Gospel Fluency has required re-reading Scripture and having his eyes opened to the reality of grace, of the centrality and day-to-day reality of Christ's sufficiency, of the separation of sin from our identity in Christ.<br />
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Just this morning I flipped through the little stack of Navigator flashcards to Matthew 5:16 and read:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>In the same way, let your light shine before men, </i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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All of my life I've read those words and thought, "Yes, I must work harder. Prove my worth. Prove that I love God." Even in light of such clear passages as John 15 where Jesus explicitly states that it is God that produces fruit, there is something in me, perhaps in my Restoration Movement DNA, that cries out, "Rules! Regulations! Boundaries! Systems!"</div>
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But reading through this verse this morning, I'm hit with the truth. My light is a reflection of his. No connection between my evil deeds and identity or worth in his eyes. There is a matter-of-factness about Jesus' words. Simply allow God to shine through you so that people will see him and praise him.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Heather and I took an incident from earlier that morning and applied what we were listening to and found that we really don't have anything to hook this kind of thinking to. It really hit us that these are things every believer should know. We can't send our kids off into the world without knowing and applying these truths! Heather asked, why doesn't the Church teach this - it's so simple. So practical.</div>
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Good question.</div>
Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-31966960153137297302013-07-25T01:05:00.000+01:002013-07-25T01:05:10.796+01:00Writer's Block & Alan Hirsch<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I have, yet again, been floundering for words; too busy with life to stop and process. Ironically, the thing that takes up most of my time when I'm not at work, is...church.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
I've been reading Alan Hirsch's The Forgotten Ways and literally been stuck on Chapter 1 for months. I honestly don't like his writing style, it's stuffy and hard to get through, like he's writing a paper or thesis. It doesn't have the polish that more mainstream, edited books might have. But it's solid and thought-provoking as I continue to wrestle with the church.<br />
<br />
Specifically, in chapter 1, I would read the last couple of pages and then set it down for a week or two. Then I would read the pages again and set it down. A couple of weeks ago I punched through the wall and kept reading. I got to chapter 3, entitled "The Heart of it all: Jesus is Lord" and kind of rolled my eyes, thinking, yeah, yeah...but as I worked my way through it in my room one night at Barksdale Air Force Base, it really impacted me. Hirsch is putting into words one of, if not THE, reason that church as I'm experiencing it is not working; why I feel more and more strongly that the way we 'do church' and 'see church' in the U.S. and most of the Western world is not only inefficient and bloated, but it actually makes it HARDER for disciples to be made and equipped.<br />
<br />
To that effect, I've included some notes below, some highlights from Chapter 3 in case you don't have time to read it. Plus, it helps me digest it better by typing it out.<br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Forgotten Ways</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Chapter 3 Notes</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">'The Heart of it all: Jesus is Lord'</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">1 Corinthians 8:4-6</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth...yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What is necessary is faith. What is needed is the kind of faith which uniting a man to Christ, sets him on fire. Roland Allen, The Compulsion of the Spirit</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And it all starts with Israel's basic confession, called the ShemaYisrael (Hear, O Israel) based on Deuteronomy 6:4. (See The Shaping of Things to Come, chs. 7 & 8)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">(Christian movements)..."are maintained throughout by what he calls 'white hot faith' brought about by a rediscovery of the place and importance of Jesus." (Addison, "Movement Dynamics", ch. 2)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Persecution drives the persecuted to live very close to their message - they simply cling to the gospel of Jesus and thus unlock its liberating power. One of the "gifts" that persecution seems to confer on the persecuted is that it enables them to distill the essence of the message and thus access it in a new way. But in order to survive in the context of persecution, they also have to jettison all unnecessary impediments, including that of a predominantly institutional conception of ecclesia...they have to condense and purify their core message that keeps them both faithful and hopeful...something else is unleashed in the recovery of simplicity, namely, the capacity to rapidly transfer the message along relational lines...but in order to distill the message in our context, we need to once again appreciate its core, namely, that of the primary theme of the Bible: God's redemptive claim over our lives. (*This is precisely how Paul can plant a church in a week and then say that they have no need for any further instruction because they received the gospel in its fullness (Acts 17:1-9; 1 & 2 Thess., Acts 16:11-40)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The belief that God is One lies at the heart of both the biblical faith and that of the remarkable Jesus movements of history.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">(as opposed to a polytheistic worldview)...Rather, Yahweh is the ONE God who rules over every aspect of life and the world.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"When God invades man's consciousness, man's reliance on 'peace and security' vanishes from every nook of his existence. His life as a single whole becomes vulnerable. Broken down are the bulkheads between the chambers which confine explosions to one compartment. When God chooses man, He invests him with full responsibility for total obedience to an absolute demand." (Minear, "Eyes of Faith"</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It is thus (the Shema) a call to covenant loyalty, rather than being a statement of theological ontology (nature of being). (Ontology is the philosophical concern with the nature of "being" (ontos). In the hands of the Christendom church, influenced as it was by the Hellenistic/Platonic thinking, theology is more concerned with metaphsyics (the branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time and space) rather than with physics and is therefore highly speculative by nature. Ontological theology, therefore, focused on God in his eternal Being - his innate nature - rather than on his existential claim on our lives. It is almost impossible to find anything of its kind in the whole of scripture, and yet it became, and still is, the chief concern of theologians in the Western tradition.)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The sole sovereignty of God is realized only by stern struggle with other gods, with all the forces that oppose his will...Christian belief does not consist in merely saying, "There is One God." The Devil knows that. Christians respond to God by faith in his deeds, trust in his power, hope in his promise, and passionate abandonment of self to do his will. Only within the context of such a passionate vocation does a knowledge of the one Lord live. And this knowledge necessitates rather than eliminates the struggle with the devil and all his works. Only in unconditional obedience, spurred by infinite passion, infinite resignation, infinite enthusiasm is such "monotheism" wholly manifested in human existence, as for example, in Jesus. -Minear, Eyes of Faith</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">God will simply not share us with false gods. But it is because idolatry will damage and fracture us, not because God "feels jealous." </span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">God is ONE and the task of our lives is to bring every aspect of our lives, communal and individual, under this one God, Yahweh.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">All of life belongs to God, and true holiness means bringing all the spheres of our life under God. This is what constitutes biblical worship - this is what it means to love God with all our heart, mind and strength.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">See "Rethinking God", a section in N. T. Wright's "Paul: Fresh Perspectives."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> At its very heart, Christianity is therefore a messianic movement, one that seeks to consistently embody the life, spirituality, and mission of its Founder. We have made it so many other things, but this is its utter simplicity. Discipleship, becoming like Jesus our Lord and Founder, lies at the epicenter of the church's task.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I use this as an example simply to highlight how deeply dualism, including as it does the idea of the sacred/secular divide, penetrates our understanding, and how biblical monotheism helps us to develop an all-of-life perspective. Dualism distorts our experience of God, his people, and his world. People involved in dualistic spiritual paradigms experience God as a church-based deity, and religion as a largely private affair. Church is largely conceived as a sacred space: the architecture, the music, the liturgies, the language and culture, all collaborate to make this a sacred event not experienced elsewhere in life in quite the same way. In other words, we go to church to experience God, and in truth God is there (he is everywhere and particularly loves to abide with his people), but the way this is done can tend to create a perception that is very difficult to break - that God is really encountered only in such places and that it requires an elaborate priestly/ministry paraphernalia to mediate this experience (John 4:20-24). This dualistic spirituality has been called a number of things, but perhaps the idea of the Sunday-Monday disconnect brings the experience to the fore. We experience a certain type of God on Sunday, but Monday is another matter - "this is 'the real world,' and things work differently here." How many times have we professional ministers heard variations of that phrase? "You don't really understand. It's just not as easy for me as it is for you. You work in the church with Christians," etc. The two "spheres of life," the sacred and the secular, are conceived as being infinitely different and heading in opposite directions. It is left to the believer to live in one way in the sacred sphere and to have to live otherwise in the secular. It is the actual way we do church that communicates this nonverbal message of dualism. (Emphasis mine) The medium is the message, after all. And it sets people up to see things in an essentially distorted way, where God is limited to the religious sphere. This creates a vacuum that is filled by idols and false, or incomplete, worship.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If we fail to do this (embrace an all-of-life perspective to faith and committing all of our lives under Jesus) then whilst we might be confessing monotheists, we might end up practicing polytheists. Dualistic expressions of faith always result in practical polytheism.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">All this results from a failure to respond truly to the One God. This failure can be addressed only by a discipleship that responds by offering all the disparate elements of our lives back to God, thus unifying our lives under his lordship.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Syncretism effectively dilutes the claim of the biblical God and creates a religion that merely diminishes the tension of living under the claim of Jesus and ends up merely affirming the religious prejudices of the host culture.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What does all this practically mean for those seeking to recover Apostolic Genius in the life of the community of God? For one, it will involve (re)engaging directly the central confession of "Jesus is Lord" and attempting to reorient the church around this life-orienting claim. It will also mean simplifying our core messages, uncluttering our overly complex theologies, and thoroughly evaluating the traditional templates that so shape our behaviors and dominate our consciousnesses.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Is the real Jesus really Lord in my community?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In order to recover Apostolic Genius we must learn what it means to recalibrate, to go back to the basic "formula" of the church.</span><br />
Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-56507842427465729412013-02-10T03:43:00.001+01:002013-02-10T03:43:15.960+01:00Yardwork.We work hard. We toil. We sweat. We pull weeds. We rake. We burn the branches that don't produce. We water. We pray. We wait. We rely on an understanding that any growth or fruit happens because of this amazing nature imbued in Creation; set in motion with amazing design beyond comprehension and understanding. It is beautiful. <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPeG6m-RJVjGQ6Y5ZVexVEKORzPgNs4YfPPkGkag8XyTJuLZKEvqBTES_EG5mWeQNl1ETciBQ7mWW5FczitD1BYHmjXbLrwqTWHR-UAzGlxd_mXgEu-mSGD8WAKDZuxj-QtsYLdv0dabg/s640/blogger-image-1133291559.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPeG6m-RJVjGQ6Y5ZVexVEKORzPgNs4YfPPkGkag8XyTJuLZKEvqBTES_EG5mWeQNl1ETciBQ7mWW5FczitD1BYHmjXbLrwqTWHR-UAzGlxd_mXgEu-mSGD8WAKDZuxj-QtsYLdv0dabg/s640/blogger-image-1133291559.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsz9aS8eh_4j9dNgoNZqop8WSxfX5HlsHCSZ3M3mT3jFTQeHVbom8YyyIB5BJ8Hcm6Dj9rT33d7nH01TKQwZjTzSdweZE4A0q5GzjcR3KxwjFqB3vd-mLlbU4AsTkzxLnHGF_BuWpuoZw/s640/blogger-image-1393136183.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnBcw-A9eld7Y1K7yxcrkbsO_1M1gHrLD-utjEZ5Q9VOH1w1573f-Mlocf1KwiVZsWoHYy142fCkxbKmcaIVBfdVsNtZRDnLmAIrXUUyuLmdbcP8X7aCwurcr0mpfRpqvfljVvBS2GJyU/s640/blogger-image-2067998382.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnBcw-A9eld7Y1K7yxcrkbsO_1M1gHrLD-utjEZ5Q9VOH1w1573f-Mlocf1KwiVZsWoHYy142fCkxbKmcaIVBfdVsNtZRDnLmAIrXUUyuLmdbcP8X7aCwurcr0mpfRpqvfljVvBS2GJyU/s640/blogger-image-2067998382.jpg" /></a></div>Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-38067939280669312882013-01-31T23:00:00.000+01:002013-01-31T23:00:19.066+01:00When the Church Stops Praying<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 17pt;">What
Happens When the Church Stops Praying?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: #294e86; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 2.5pt; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.churchleaders.com/author/MarkBatterson/" title="More from Mark Batterson"><span style="color: white; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 5.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">by Mark Batterson</span></a><span style="color: white; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 5.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Outreach recently spoke
with Mark Batterson to discuss a wide assortment of issues, including the
challenges of taking the Gospel into the culture of Washington D.C., the
lessons he's learned about prayer from his most recent book, </span></i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Circle Maker</span><i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, and what it means to be a "current" church in our
ever-changing culture. Here's a glimpse into the conversation. Check out more
from our </span></i><i><u><span style="color: #294e86; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nov/Dec issue here</span></u></i><i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. </span></i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></i></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What are the most important ministry lessons
you’ve learned this year?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We’re not trying to grow a church, we’re trying to bless a city,
and when you bless a city then God grows His church. And I think that’s gotten
into our DNA over the last year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You know how you can read a verse in the Bible a thousand times,
but then one day the full force of it hits you and it’s like this revelation.
This little statement Jesus made, “I will build my church”… I’ve heard that a
thousand times, but I think it hit me this year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My job is not to build the church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s a little thing, but it’s been big for me. I’ve shared that
in some settings with pastors and I think it’s been real freeing. We need to
remind ourselves, it’s His church—He’s the one who will build it, and if we can
stay out of the way, then some great things are going to happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Prayer has also played a big part.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I feel like prayer is the
difference between the best you can do and the best God can do.</span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So if we’re not praying, then the best we can
do is the best we can do, and that’s not good enough. When we get on our knees,
the Holy Spirit does the heavy lifting. Prayer creates the culture and gives
people a heart for evangelism, because when you get into God’s presence, you
start to get His heartbeat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That’s been the game-changer for us this year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In your recent book,</span></b><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <i>The Circle Maker</i></span></b><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, you talk about the
important transformation of becoming a praying church. What does that look like
for National Community?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You can delegate a lot of things, but you can’t delegate prayer.
The Lord convicted me out of Acts 6—when the church leaders were delegating
stuff so they could be in the Word and in prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt;">I love conferences. I’m a conference junkie, but I’d rather have
one God-idea than a thousand good ideas. You can go to conferences and get a
good idea, but you’re not going to get a God-idea there—you get that by being
in the presence of God and getting into prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <i>The Circle Maker</i> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">came out, I had this
thriving personal prayer life, but I realized I hadn’t led the church
corporately into that. So we started doing these 7:14 a.m. prayer meetings
(based on 2 Chronicles 7:14), and I realized it was changing things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I don’t know if it took me writing a book on prayer to realize
how far short I had fallen—to kind of wake up to the reality. I felt a sense of
responsibility that I better make sure I’m not just leading the way in my
personal prayer life—I better be leading the way corporately. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What happens if National Community Church
stops praying?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wow! I think the very first thing that comes to mind is we would
get bored. Soren Kirkegaard said boredom is kind of the ultimate sin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I don’t think you can live a Spirit-led life and be bored at the
same time. So when you stop praying it takes the supernatural element out of
what we’re doing and the church becomes a club.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There’s no conviction of the Holy Spirit, no miracles—then the
church stops being a movement and becomes a museum to what God has done in the
past.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you want God to do something new, you can’t keep doing the
same old thing. You have to do something different, and I think prayer is the
difference between you fighting for God and God fighting for you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So if we stop praying, we’re on our own and I don’t think we’re
going to get very far.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When you start praying it begins to create some of that momentum
you can’t manufacture—it’s God beginning to move.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-50693890801480720902013-01-14T14:39:00.004+01:002013-01-14T14:41:08.938+01:00Not WhyHow is it then that we've come to imagine that Christianity consists primarily in what we do for God? How has this come to be the good news of Jesus? Is the kingdom that He proclaimed to be nothing more than a community of men and women who go to church on Sunday, take an annual retreat, read their Bibles every now and then, vigorously oppose abortion, don't watch x-rated movies, never use vulgar language, smile a lot, hold doors open for people, root for the favorite team, and get along with everybody? Is that why Jesus went through the bleak and bloody horror of Calvary? Is that why He emerged in shattering glory from the tomb? Is that why He poured out His Holy Spirit on the church? To make nicer men and women with better morals?<br />
<br />
The gospel is absurd and the life of Jesus is meaningless unless we believe that He lived, died and rose again with but one purpose in mind: to make brand-new creations. Not to make people with better morals, but to create a community of prophets and professional lovers, men and women who would surrender to the mystery of the fire of the Spirit that burns within, who would live in ever greater fidelity to the omnipresent Word of God, who would enter into the center of it all, the very heart and mystery of Christ, into the center of the flame that consumes, purifies, and sets everything aglow with peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love. This, my friends, is what it really means to be a Christian. Our religion never begins with what we do for God. It always starts with what God has done for us, the great and wondrous things that God dreamed of and achieved for us in Christ Jesus.<br />
<br />
-from Brennan Manning's 'the furious longing of God', pages 124-126.<br />
<br />
<br />Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-32415606677125840282012-12-19T18:47:00.000+01:002012-12-19T18:47:32.765+01:00Church and CavesMan, there has been so much going on with us and 'church' in the past six months. I've been in my cave about it all - unable or unwilling to process and express anything about it - so much good and bad, but it is time. So, as Marcus Mumford puts it...<br />
<br />
...come out of your cave walking on your hands...and see the world hanging upside down...Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999351415327534579.post-79953096471308761462012-05-16T16:31:00.001+01:002012-05-16T16:31:27.467+01:00Healthy Short-term Missions? Do it like Jesus.Thought this was a pretty refreshing & simple reminder...<br />
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<a href="http://www.theveryworstmissionary.com/2012/04/healthy-short-term-missions-do-it-like.html#.T7PIFlGFrDg.blogger">Healthy Short-term Missions? Do it like Jesus.</a>Jason Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00219493374154109323noreply@blogger.com4