For the next couple of weeks, I have been invited to be a daily writer for Barclay Press’s Daily Journal. I am excited for the opportunity, and hope you will all join me there for the next couple of weeks. I’ll be adding a link here each day, so you can head over to their site without too much trouble. I do hope you’ll stop back by here to comment on what you read, as well.
The first day’s post is up, and it’s on getting rid of our junk (you’ll see what I mean!).
Here’s Day Two! One man’s junk is another man’s . . . you know the rest. Or do you?
Day Three is all about signs of life. Have you seen them? Would you recognize them if you did?
In Day Four, I wrestle with the problem of evil and the resurrection life.
Day Five is all about sharing the resurrection life.
Thanks for stopping by!
LL — I just saw this last comment of yours today. I must have missed it in the flurry that was last week. I’m so resistant to changing my appearance for others, as well. I think we are all called to make these kind of love gestures toward others though. What those gestures are must certainly vary.
Hi Erin! I marvel at the resurrection power every believer in Jesus has to make these kind of extraordinary gestures in our lives to show others we care. We may not all have to hunt wild game, but there are so many ways we can live in this power. You are so right, this power certainly exceeds the normal boundaries we place on it.
Charity,
I just read all five of your Daily Journal posts, and especially enjoyed your Day Five thoughts on living the resurrection life. I also have friends that are headed to the mission field in a very different, very closed-to-the-Gospel location, and the changes they must make in their appearance, language, family life, finances, well almost every aspect of life really, are just NOT a concern to them.
I so enjoy hearing them look forward to learning to eat wild game, wash clothing in the river and thatch their roof themselves. Because to them it means that the Gospel is going out through their lives. They live the resurrection on a daily basis and inhabit the resurrection where they are. Resurrection living is so powerful that it transcends and permeates all cultures and living conditions.
I’m rambling. I liked your thought there. And all of your journal entries were nice to read.
Day Five… oohh… I could feel my resistance rising at the mere thought of having to adjust appearances. You have hit on an area that’s difficult for me… moving in synch with others as a sign of love.
Charity, I look forward to reading all the rest of your entries. Good thoughts on resurrection and getting rid of the old junk. Good that we can work from the new us in Christ. But I still have to embrace the aspect of process, to be sure. Thanks.
can’t wait to read them!
Day Four, I like your statement that death is no longer your worst enemy. I do believe that this changes everything for a person, perhaps making possible a life that otherwise would have stalled in fear.
Craver… I’m laughing at the picture of you slinking home in the van with wife and bike.
Yup, five minutes to church, too. And just five minutes to my favorite coffee shop, Lulu’s Electric Cafe, and to several friends’ houses. Just 10 minutes to a couple of parks, the library, credit union and farmers’ market. Although the drive to all of those places takes a little longer at 5 p.m., but it’s really great. Unfortunately, my city is NOT very bicycle friendly. I would love to bike to work, or even walk, but there are no bike lanes or even sidewalks along the way.
You have a five minute drive to work?!! I wish I was close enough that it would be practical to ride a bike. I did it once, but almost got killed, and my wife came by with the van to pick me up at the end of the day.
Are you that close to church, too?
LL — Oh, I think that’s the point I was trying to make. All this stuff God does in our lives makes them so rewarding and worthwhile.
(P.S. Thanks for hanging in there with me each day of the Daily Journal. I’m finishing week one this evening, and I’m feeling a little weary.)
On Day Three, I’m wondering if life can be untangled from the disciplines and the gifts. In other words, as you say, they are not Life in you, but without them, would you have life? Thinking, thinking….
LL — Yes, I find that our thoughts are often working in tandem as well. I’m so glad we can encourage one another, and spur one another one. I’ll have to check that book out, as well. I’m always looking for good children’s stories to pass along to nieces and nephews and to embolden my own soul.
Mark — Yes, redemption can really be overwhelming. It’s amazing what good Jesus can pull from such pain.
In Tuesday’s post at Barclay, you wrote, “Jesus also has the wonderful capacity to take the parts of my life that I consider useless garbage, and turn them into some valuable.”
I love that. Everything bad can be redeemed. Everything. It sort of boggles the mind.
Great continuation on the “junk” theme. I bet you would love the children’s book The Tin Forest. It’s about a man who lived in a place that was nowhere and forgotten and surrounded by everyone else’s junk. Under the old man’s hand, a forest grows (pieced together from the junk). In time, birds come, with real seeds, and the forest eventually springs to life and color.
Once, I used it as an illustration for a talk (and I think it might even be in my book somewhere!), to say that God is like that old man. Under his hand, the junk of our lives can be transformed. Ah, Charity, you and I are often thinking on the same lines. How I do love thinking and blogging with you!
LL — Yes, there is something about spring and resurrection that makes me want a clean slate, a fresh start.
LM — Thanks for stopping by.
I loved your article. Thanks for linking!
You and Motu (a new visitor on my blog today) seem to be thinking along the same lines!
I liked her thoughtful post Purging
Maybe spring just brings up universal themes for us? And, I enjoyed your handling of it too at the Daily Journal. (Great last line!)