Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Wow, Random thoughts

I've decided I have one of the most schizophrenic blogs on the internet. I believe that it might have something to do with the randomness that is me. I'd worry about it, except for the fact that I manage to maintain two fairly structured blogs as well (Pour Out A Blessing - study of scripture and God in History - Christian history). Whew! At least I can point to those and say, "There ... see ... I can focus when I need to!"

My blog received a little attention because I used the words "Lizard Brain" in one of the titles this last week. That's the hot new term used by Seth Godin in his latest book "Linchpin." Everyone is talking about it with good reason. It helps us to understand why we allow ourselves to fail. The book encourages us to be more than we can be. The use of those words, though, managed to draw in a few readers just to check out what I do. Great to have 'em, but the rest of my posts are definitely not focused on entrepreneurs or business leaders, etc. They aren't aimed toward Christians or any specific niche group. They're just an outflow of what's happening.

Some of my friends find encouragement by seeing the failures and successes in my life and how I learn through them. To be honest, at the age of 50, I'm awfully tired of still having to relearn lessons I should have managed to learn years ago. Since I am obviously a slow learner, there will be plenty of blog fodder for years to come, I'm afraid.

Then, there's just the random stuff that happens to me throughout the day, or things that I read which cause me to think and observe. I'd like to believe that God shows up every once in awhile through my words. Probably not as often as several of my readers think He should. But, that's not my concern.

Speaking of God, I read a FABULOUS book by Krista Tippett, "Speaking of Faith: Why Religion Matters and How to Talk About It" last weekend. She sees this great, big God. Bigger than the God that many of us try to limit. She quoted Dietrich Bonhoeffer who wrote in 1944, "I'm still discovering right up to this moment, that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith ... I mean living unreservedly in life's duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God."

You might need to read that quote again. I had to read it a couple of times to fully comprehend what he was thinking. I loved it! I've been studying a lot of Christian history the last few months and most of the time people worked hard to separate themselves from the world so that they could know Christ better. What a radically different way to look at how we are called to live in this world.

Neither Jesus nor his disciples separated themselves from the world. They waded right into the midst of everything that was happening and relied on God fully. That's what faith is about - standing in the midst of chaos, knowing that God is responsible for everything that happens and we are simply there as His tools. Allowing God to use us wherever we are is faith.

Well, how was that for a totally schizophrenic post. I think I succeeded.

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