30 More Days of Daily Prayers

30 More Days of Daily Prayers

Today's prayer - Lord I often fall short yet Your love abounds. Show me what I need to change so there is less stumbling & more soaring. Amen

31 Dec 2009

Today's prayer - Creator God, show me what I am clinging to with clenched a fist so that I may let go & come to you with open hands & an open heart. Amen.

30 Dec 2009

Today's prayer - Lord God, what is it I need to do, that I'm not, to know You that much more? Now help me to do it. Amen.

29 Dec 2009

Today's prayer - Abba Father, help me to know You better so that I can known myself better. Amen

28 Dec 2009

Today's prayer-Lord, let Your righteous anger convict & correct me while Your loving mercy engulfs me. Let me be still & know You. Amen.

27 Dec 2009

Today's prayer - Father God grant me Your wisdom & understanding so that I might see the wicked and righteous paths and choose properly. Amen.

26 Dec 2009




Today's prayer - May God find favor with you on this day, the day we celebrate the birth of our Savior, so that His peace may engulf you. Amen.

25 Dec 2009

Today's prayer - Abba Father, search my heart, clean it of those things that can harden it or make me prideful. Open my heart to you. Amen.

23 Dec 2009




Today's prayer - Lord God, help me to pray- when I'm troubled, when I'm happy, when I'm sick- direct my prayers to conform to Your will for me. Amen.

22 Dec 2009

Today's prayer - Lord God, let me stand strong, to persevere, to be a voice for You in an ever darkening world. Amen.

21 Dec 2009

Today's prayer - Gracious Father, let me be strong & courageous as I lean into my fears knowing that You are with me always. Amen.

19 Dec 2009

Today's prayer - Father God, give me patients as the unknown future opens up in front of me. Let me trust in You with all my heart... Amen.

18 Dec 2009




Today's prayer - Lord, You have shown me the beliefs/values You want me to engage in. Thanks. Now I ask that You help me to live them out. Amen.

17 Dec 2009

Today's prayer - Lord I desire wisdom so that I might know your desires, passions & will so that I might make them mine so that I can serve others. Amen.

16 Dec 2009




Today's prayer - Lord God, help me to see the things that crowed You out & then help me to do something about them. Amen

15 Dec 2009

Today's prayer -Lord listen with me to the words I speak, if they are displeasing to You help me change my heart to reflect Yours. Amen.

14 Dec 2009

Today's prayer - Heavenly Father, let my beliefs & values (being) be lived out in my praxis (doings). Amen

13 Dec 2009

Today's prayer - Father God, as You have shown mercy to me, help me to show mercy to others. Amen.

12 Dec 2009

Today's prayer - Lord God, my tongue both curses and blesses - help me to eliminate the first & increase the second - towards You & others. Amen

11 Dec 2009

Today's prayer - Lord show me how to give voice to the voiceless & how to serve those whom society has forgotten or rejected. Amen.

9 Dec 2009

Today's prayer - Lord you want me to listen & do. Tune my ears to hear Your voice & my heart to do Your will. Amen.

8 Dec 2009




Today's prayer - Father God thank you for choosing me to be part of your plan here. I am humbled & lean on you to complete your purpose. Amen.

7 Dec 2009




Today's prayer - Lord Almighty, I desire to be in relationship with you living a life focus on your purpose for my life not my purpose for my life. Amen.

6 Dec 2009






Today's prayer - Lord Almighty, stir up my spirit so that I remember to set you first in my life. I rejoice that You are with me & I with You. Amen

5 Dec 2009

Today's prayer - Lord Almighty, as I remember the things you have done for me I want to honor You by being someone who fears You and serves You. Amen

3 Dec 2009

Today's prayer - Abba Father, I desire to know you in a new way, in a way that transforms me into who you want me to become. Amen

2 Dec 2009




Today's prayer - Lord Almighty, let me view my life with an eternal perspective knowing that in the end I will reign with You forever. Amen.

1 Dec 2009

Today's prayer - Lord God, I want to be one who is distinct from the world, serving others for your glory & honor. Amen.

30 Nov 2009

Today's prayer - Holy Spirit send your purifying fire to melt my heart & release its impurities so that they can be replaced with things pleasing to God

29 Nov 2009

Reflections from my hermitage

Sunday afternoon I left for Pacem in Terris for a 3 day retreat into silence and solitude. My plan was to do some writing on a doctoral project that is very over due, reflect on the past year, and do a little reading in preparation for a class coming up this winter. Plans and reality don't always come together when one is getting alone with God. I had my agenda, but I was also open to God's agenda. This is something I have learned from numerous retreats to the hermitage's of Pacem in Terris.

The first night is usually a time of rambling around the hermitage trying to decompress from the world I have just left and enter into a time of silence and solitude to meet God with a quieted heart. One that is open to His leading. A place where one is able to listen for "that still small voice." I simply sit and listen. The mind wanders and I put it back. The view out the window, sitting in the rocker allows one to be open to the Spirits leading. It was a time spent reading and pondering what the prophet Hosea was writing the God's chosen people. Despite their sin and abandonment of God, He still loved them. Sleep, rest, peace.

Monday came and I was going to write, but God had other plans. I had begun to read the book The Gift of Being Yourself by David Benner on Sunday and found myself drawn into the questions being posed he posed. The book is about the need to get rid of our false self and become our true self. Benner proposes this is done by knowing God and through knowing God we can then know ourself. It is about the idea that our existence is ground in God's divine love or us. I started to make a connection to what I was reading in Hosea. I love when God helps me to connect dots. Benner talks about hiding and holding on to pieces of our false self and how they need to be given up. More dots to connect. I was later reading a book by Henri Nouwen called With Open Hands. In this book about prayer, Nouwen says that it when we grasp onto something with a clinched fist we are unable to come to God with open hands and receive from Him what he wants to give us. To often what I don't want to give us is a part of my false self. By holding so tightly I do not or can not fully embrace who it is God is calling me to be. I am still pondering this question and others raised by Benner.

In short, I did get some writing done, but more importantly God met me in my heritage and started be down another transformation path that He is using to shape me into the creating He wants me to become. I know that this is a life long process and will require a lot more trips back to the hermitage where I can once again find the silence and solitude I long for so that I can hear God speaking and where I can ponder the things that He has said.

Portable "Standing Stones"

I have always been fascinated with idea of standing stones, those rock towers we read about in the Old Testament where when something fantastic has happened God's people will create this memorial so that when people pass the young can ask the old what they rocks mean and the story of God's grace or provision can be passed along.

The Strand family has our own standing stone that we created while we shared those things that God has done for us. It's a really cool idea that is part of one of our patios. However, it is not very portable and at times I need reminders of the things I believe and the awesomeness of God. To this end I have established a couple of portable standing stones. These "stones" are in fact not stone nor were they created initially for this purpose. They are however markers from a couple of significant God things in my life.

This first standing stone is the pendant I received when I first finish a personal journey of transformation that helped me to clarify my central beliefs and core values. This material has taken on even greater significance since I started working with men in the IFI program at Lino Lakes State prison. My central beliefs have expanded into my foundational beliefs (in my case made up of three biblical meta-narratives) and my operational beliefs. I carry this in my pocket so that when I slip my hand I and I feel the pendant I reflect on the things I say I believe and value and do a quick self assessment to see if at that moment I am in fact living them out. If I don't keep reflecting on these beliefs and values they are doing me little good.

This second marker comes from a recent series at my church where we were give this "stone" to remember to pray for a specific person. I now us this stone to remember to pray about God. To be specific I pray about the attributes of God that make God God. This actually came out of one of my new belief and value to remember who God is. This was brought about by Malachi his proclamation that the Israelites had forgotten who God what and what He had done for them (Malachi 1:1-10).

Are there things that you do to keep God in proper alignment in your life?

30 Days of Daily Prayers-

What follows are prayers based on scripture readings from the day. They were sent via Twitter so they were limited to 140 character.

Today's prayer - Lord, search my heart today & show me those things I need to change so my faith may rest fully in you. Help me change.

November 28, 2009

Heavenly Father, Creator God, I choose this day to sing your praise and honor your name by the things I do and the words I say. Amen.

November 27, 2009

Today's prayer - Father God, you give us your best, in return we should give you our best. Show me where I fall short. Amen.

November 26, 2009

My prayer - Loving Father, you have shown your love to me in numerous ways. Let me dwell in your love & share it with those around me.

November 25, 2009

Today's prayer - Father God, help my unbelief so that when you call on me I will respond by faith in obedience to you. Amen.

November 24, 2009

Lord God, let me look to you for my strength, for my contentment. It's not about what I have or don't have, it's about trusting in you.

November 23, 2009

Today's prayer - Father God, you have been generous to me, let me then be generous to others with my time and resources. Amen.

November 22, 2009

My prayer - Father God, search my heart & show me those things I do that man may value but are unpleasing to you. Help me change. Amen.

November 21, 2009

Today's prayer - Jehovah Jireh, let me pursue the things you are teaching me & be content with what you have provided. Amen.

November 20, 2009

Today's prayer-Father God, let me use the treasures you have provided me to invest in the lives of people you bring into my life. Amen.

November 19, 2009

Today's prayer - Jesus, let me honor you by giving of my time & recourses to serve those whom society has seemingly marginalized. Amen

November 18, 2009

Today's prayer - Abba Father I want to know & do your will - transform me, renew so that I may know & do your good & perfect will. Amen.

November 16, 2009

Today's prayer - Father God, give me wisdom as I stand in the gap for those whom society has marginalized or rendered voiceless. Amen.

November 15, 2009

Today's prayer - Lord, as I serve & work this week let me do it with the attitude that it is you I am serving or working for. Amen

November 14, 2009

Today's prayer - Heavenly Father continue you're transforming work in my life & use me to encourage other's as you transform them. Amen.

November 13, 2009

Today's prayer - Gracious Father thank-you for counting me faithful & allowing me to serve others for your glory & honor. Amen.

November 12, 2009

Today's prayer - From the apostle Paul - Father God pour out your spirit of wisdom & revelation on us so we can know you better. Amen

November 11, 2009

Today's prayer - Creator God, you wired me with certain gifts & talents - let me use them to honor You and serve others. Amen.

November 10, 2009

My Prayer – Father God, let me rejoice in the things you have done. Let me share your story with other. Amen.

November 9, 2009

My Prayer - Abba Father, let me seek you each day to refresh me & to restore me so that I can do the ministry you have called me to.

November 8, 2009

Today's prayer- Father let me grow in knowledge of you today and let me nurture my relationships with other. Amen.

November 7, 2009

Today's prayer - Father God, may the stories of you & your children continue to strengthen my faith & help it to grow. Amen.

November 6, 2009

Prayer-Abba Father, your desire is for me to live in bold relief to the culture around me so as to bring glory to you. Help me be bold.

November 5, 2009

Today's prayer - God, give me your eyes & heart so that I do respond to the thinks going on around me with mourning, fasting, & prayer.

November 4, 2009

My prayer - Heavenly Father, today let me do and serve, not to seek praise from the world, but so I can bring glory and honor to you.

November 3, 2009

Today's prayer - God of the universe Jesus is my master, I am his apprentice - Holy Spirit teach me to be like Jesus. Amen.

November 2, 2009

My prayer - Creator God, you are the refiner of my life - put me in the crucible, remove my planks, I want to live a transformed life.

November 1, 2009

Today’s Prayer - Lord, now that hear voice give me the wisdom to understand it and the courage to do it. Amen.

October 31, 2009

My prayer-Abba Father let me draw near to you, rest in you, and honor you by the things I do, the words I use, and the stories I write.

October 30, 2009

My prayer today - Lord, let me be still so I can listen, let me listen so I can hear, let me hear so that I can serve.

October 29, 2009

Today’s Prayer – God, let me show your love to others so that they may see you. Amen.

October 28, 2009

Today’s Prayer – Father God, bring to me this week someone who needs to be reconciled with you. Help me to help them. Amen

October 26, 2009

Today’s prayer – Father God Almighty, show me who to give voice to, who to server. Show me who, show me how.

October 25, 2009

My Sojourn - So What Is Next?

So, this is who I was becoming in the fall of 2008. I had been pushed and pulled, shaped and molded, challenged to step out of my comfort zone, and as described by Erwin McManus (a passive mentor of mine) I was beginning to walk the barbarian way. I didn’t know it at the time, but events, readings, and life experiences had fallen into place to send my on a wild sojourn to places hadn’t really thought of going before. What was needed was a trigger, some event, some writing, some still small voice to launch me into the transformational crucible were I would be shaped by different events, molded by readings from the Bible and other authors, transformed in my theological understandings (my beliefs and values), and where my contemplative nature would be allowed to flourish as I would spend hours pondering about who God is, what I believe, and how He has transformed me into the person He wants me to become.

So what was the trigger? It was a blog posting my Josh Kesler about a stupid sheep they had encountered while driving around the countryside. In his telling of the story Josh referred to the sheep as a “stupid sheep.” To this day I don’t know how or why I resonated with that stupid sheep, but rather than thinking it was stupid I saw it as barbarian, wanting break free of the thinks that confined it. Maybe that is the metaphor for my life experience, until now I have been listening to the people who have been telling me to get back in, instead of listening to God say break free, get out, think outside the box, don’t be conformed rather be transformed by the things I am teaching you and showing you.

I will be thinking again about this to see where I am headed...

My Sojourn - Where It Began

I have been a Christian for some 25+ years. My spiritual transformation during this time was one of crisis or experiential transformation. As situations presented themselves I was shaped and molded by them. I could choose to embrace the transformation or ignore it and escape the process. I was dumped into what has been called the “Transformational Crucible.” This was a place where I was refined to become more like Christ. It was during this time that I preached my first sermon, struggled with infertility issues, struggled with depression, spent years moving from place to place, going to school, and trusting God. My crucible experiences grounded me in a lot of ways. I didn’t see them then, but as I reflect back ten, fifteen or twenty years removed from the experience I can see God’s hand in my life, the potter shaping and molding the clay which became me, the person I am today.

After graduating seminary in 2001 I felt a little lost, tired, and complacent. I was working, taking leadership roles in my church, teaching, and simply doing life. There was little “transformation” going on. I had hit some sort of spiritual plateau. It was here where God chose another type of formation process to again begin to shape and mold me. For lack of a better word I call it process formation. By process formation I mean that you are guided through a series of exercises, questions, or processes to produce in the end a transformation in my life.

My Sojourn - Setting the Stage

This is the first a number of blog postings I am calling "My Sojourn."

This past week I have been feeling odd or should I say odder than I usually fell. In talking to others, I haven’t really been able to describe the way I have been feeling. Maybe it’s a deeper sense that God is real, that God is working in my life, or that I am being prepared for some sort of wild adventure, a barbarian adventure. I simply don’t know. Content walks in the rainy weather, hours of pondering and resting in the Lord, the sense that I have something to write but unsure of the content, this is what I have been feeling, sensing, experience this past week. What follows is a reflection back over the past couple of years, a reflection to try and help me figure out what God is doing in my life and calling me to do in the future. I am writing this for me, but if others can glean some insight from it too, so much the better.

Let me set the context for this sojourn. My Christian life was a lot like the Dow – highs and lows but generally headed in an upward direction. Seminary, which should have been a time of meeting God, was in reality a time where academic pursuits replaced relational intimacy with God. I learned a lot about God, about how to interpret the Bible, about how to theologize about God, but I didn’t spend time with God. It was a time of intellectual transformation, but not heart or relational transformation. So was this experience good or bad? I don’t know, but God has used it to shape who I am today. In reality, all of my life experiences had shape who I am and how I live out my life.

Next Up - A Little Bit of Context...

Personal Life Platform - Text Version

Here is the text version of my PLP -

Personal Life Platform – Oct 2009

What follows are the central beliefs and core values upon which my faith has been built. As a Christ-follower, and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit I will endeavor to firmly establish this beliefs and values as the platform I stand on as I sojourn through life.

Foundational Beliefs

The foundations of my beliefs are built on three meta-narratives found in the Bible. These are the stories that I use to anchor my faith in God. They are used to establish and guild my operational beliefs and core values and to shape my worldview.

The first foundational belief is the Creation Narrative found in Genesis 1-3. We see God and humanity living in a rich intimate relationship ...when man disobeyed the relationship was broken, separation from God occurred.

The second foundational belief is the Jesus Narrative that begins in Genesis and goes through the Book of Revelation. This is the story of redemption, reconciliation, and restoration. Foretold in the Old Testament, lived out in the Gospels, put into practice in the New Testament.

The third foundational belief is the Eternal Narrative found in Revelation 21. We have the image of the new heaven and earth coming down and God and humanity once again living in a rich intimate relationship.

Operational Beliefs and Core Values

My operational beliefs and core values are the specific beliefs and value that I believe God has called me to live out in my life. These could be life long beliefs and values lived out in all aspects of my life daily or they may be apart of who I am for only a season of my life.

· It is God in whom I will trust (Proverbs 3:5-6)

o Belief: Ultimately God is in control

o Value: Obedience

§ When I trust God fully He will guide my path. It is God’s wisdom that I need to use to guide my life.

§ I am living out this belief/value by taking on additional education without know what the end holds.

· I need to lean into my fears and push forward (Joshua 1)

o Belief: God is my source for strength and courage

o Value: Courage

§ When I step our and embrace my barbarian way, I need to “be strong and courageous.” I do this when I worry about doing what God has called me to do and who He has called me to be.

§ I am living out this belief/value by doing things that are outside my comfort zone (jail ministry).

· The heart is to be guarded (Proverbs 4:23)

o Belief: My body is the temple for the Holy Spirit

o Value: Purity

§ I need to have in place protections to keep my heart pure.

§ I am living out this belief/value by meeting with an accountability partner.

· Serving Him by Serving You (John 13:12-17)

o Belief: Being a Christ-follower is not about getting but giving

o Value: Servanthood

§ Jesus humbled Himself to serve others and then commanded us to do likewise.

§ I live out this belief/value by donating platelets once a month

· I must give a voice to the voiceless (James 1:27)

o Belief: All people are create in God’s image

o Value: Compassion

§ This is one part of the duality we live as Christ-followers. We are to “DO”, that is live out our faith.

§ I lived out this belief/value by volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. I am currently living out this belief/value by working with a group of men in IFI

· Loving God and loving my neighbors is what I am called to do (Matthew 22:37-41)

o Value: Holiness

§ As I learn to love God and others more, I become more like Jesus and grow closer to God. This is the second part of our duality as Christ-followers. It is the “BE.”

§ I live out this belief/value by setting aside time with God regularly, blogging, reading, and tending to my spiritual formation on retreats.

Motives

Why do I do what I do? I am motivated by love, love of God and love of my neighbor. Loving God is about the internal transformation that takes place in me as I go through the spiritual formation process. Loving my neighbor is about serving their needs or giving a voice to the voiceless. It is about being and doing.

Visualization of My Ponderings

What you can see here is one of two visualizations for my current ponderings. Now if I could just figure out what it all means.

The adventure I have been on the last couple of years has been interesting to say the least. In a conversation this morning I reflected back on where this current thread started. I find a number of preliminary events, seminary, Heart of a Warrior, reading a lot of Erwin McManus, and spending time in jail (doing ministry, not time). All these experiences equipped me, encouraged me, or excited me in different ways. However, the event that really got my mind going was a blog posting my Josh Kesler a couple of years ago about a stupid sheep (Stupid Sheep or Barbarian Sheep?). From there my mind has been going a lot of different directions.

The interesting thing is that there seems to be a synergy as I reflect on all the different components. What I am doing now is looking for the connector, the idea that God is trying to teach me, the focal point of my ponderings. This is the key for my future work, doctoral studies, and spiritual transformation.

I can not simply sit back and remain where I am. That would not be honoring to God or to my formation. What I need to do is continue to embrace who God is transforming me into, knock on doors that are closed and look into doors that are open to see if I should enter, continue to write, speak, and teach about the things God is showing me, and finally be prepared to lean into my fears, embrace change, and accept the path that God has prepared for me to follow at this time in my life.

Convergence of Thoughts

I have been rather sporadic with my posting of late. It seems as though my mind has been a whirl wind of thoughts from all areas of my life: work, studies, ponderings. The odd thing is that they seem to all fit together in ways I really didn't expect and at times don't understand. Don't get me wrong, I find it exciting, I feel like I did a couple of years ago as I began to explore my doctoral studies.

My problem is that I get wrapped up in making connections that I don't always take the time to write about it. Oh how I wish I has some rich benefactor who would underwrite my ponderings. :-). Short of that I find that I need to make better use of my time and energy.

For now I think I will just sit back and see were God is going to take my next.

What is your passion?

I love the way God enters into my life to help me ponder the meaning of my life. There is a new show coming out on Fox this fall called Glee. The show is the story line is a group of preceived misfits or loosers who simply love to sing and their advisor who himself is trying to figure out what a meaningful life is. As I watched the pilot a question was asked of the advisor about what type of life example he wanted to live for his unborn child, one where money is the answer or one where the life he is living, he lives because it is his passion. The line goes "the only life worth living is the one you are most passionate about." As it turns out he is passionate about music.

This ties in with an event we had at my church tonight where both the executive pastor and senior pastor shared their passion about bring Christ to people who live in the Northern and Eastern suburbs of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. The life they are living is the life they are most passionate about. One of the most exciting this is that they were inviting 1000s to join them on the journey God is taking them on. We were invited to be ignited by their passion for serving others and sharing the message that Jesus brought to us 2000 years ago.

My passion is the fusion of my work, doctoral studies, and the spiritual formation of myself and others. I am not one to make first contact with people but I love to come along side them and help them grow deeper in their relationship with God and others. I have been pondering the last week a framework to help me in this task be it in a face to face setting or in the virtual world.

My question to you is what is the passion that make your life worth living and are you pursuing that passion?

Stuck on a Thought

OK, I admit it, I believe that I have moved from passionate pondering to obsessive preoccupation with phrase "God's Will" or "the will of God." I have been hanging out in 1 Peter and Peter uses both phrases. Where I really got started was 1 Peter 4 where Peter tells his audience to put the things of the the world behind them and live for the will of God. In my last posting I explored the idea of what I see as a corporate understanding of the will of God or God's will, but as I think about it now the ideas that I expressed in my last posting are the beliefs that move me to action. Other people may key in on other beliefs. That is not to say we can accept some beliefs and reject others, rather I see God putting a passion in our heart to really focus our energy in one or two areas so as not to over extend ourself. We need to do one thing and do it very well.

I think what I was doing was making a connection between God's will for our life and God's purpose or plans for our life. I think there is a connection there, but not the way I was thinking. The connection I see is that "God's will" is the internal calibrating beliefs and values that we live by. Our purpose then is to act on those beliefs and put them into service for God. In James we are told to put our faith into action, not to earn our salvation or rewards, but rather to show others the faith that we proclaim.

My question is what beliefs are you living out? How have you grounded your beliefs, in the Bible or in the world? Do your actions truly reflect what you say you believe?

God's Will -

In 1 Peter 4 we are told to not live as the world around us lives, but rather our lives should reflect God's will. This has gotten me thinking about this subject of God's will, not the "Oh this must have been God's will", rather I am wondering if there is not a "universal" God's will as well as God's will for our life as an individual.

Here are a couple of thoughts about God's will for all Christ-followers. I start in Matt 22 where Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees and responds to their question about the greatest commandment by telling them that we need to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind and to love our neighbors. From this I see God's will as loving Him and loving others. This to me seems the foundation for living out God's will. If we love God and love others we will naturally want to share the Gospel message with them (i.e. the great commission). Loving God would hopefully lead us into wanting a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him, growing to be more like Him, allowing the fruits of the Spirit to flow through us and out of us to those around us.

More to come on this later...

Taking Time To Ponder

These last couple of weeks have been a little busy. Writing for my doctoral studies, Oshkosh for the air show (great time with my small group), and preparing for and presenting at a distance ed conference. I'm glad I was on a study break from work, though I was pulled in a lot more than I had planned. Oh well, that will allow me a a little more time to ponder and write at a later date.

All that to say I have not had as much time to ponder or blog as I had hoped. What I have been pondering is the beginning of 1 Peter 4, where we are told to have the same attitude as Christ as He suffered, not live as the world around us lives, but rather live out the will of God. So what does it mean to not "live for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God" (1 Peter 4:2). I understand the first part. There are things in our life that we need to put to death, borrowing some Pauline wording there. Things we have done or things that we are doing that do not honor God, enhance our relationships with God and others, or that cause other to ask why we don't do the things the world does. I get this. I don't always succeed but I get it.

This putting things behind us is a process. When we begin it is easy to peel away the things we don't want to do, but as we dig deeper it gets tougher. Here I am not really talking about the behavior, rather we need to get to the root, the belief and values that result in an unwanted behavior. Change these or replace these with Biblically ground beliefs and values and desirable behaviors will follow.

What comes next will take a little more pondering. How does one live for the will of God? Is there a universal "will of God" or is this different for each individual? I think that it is a both/and. More thoughts on this in my next posting.

White Space

White space is the unused area around text. To much white space and your words look lonely or maybe important, to little white space and you have textual overload. I run into this when I read the comics, if there is to much text in the panels I just skip over it. White space in itself is neither good nor bad, it's all a balancing act.

In my own life I think I have just come out of a time of not enough spiritual white space, I was functioning in a time of God overload (if that is even possible I don't know), there was to much "text" and not enough time to process. Now my spiritual life seem like there is way to much white space, or maybe I am just at a point where I can rest in the Lord and process the things that I have been taking in. My thoughts are few, but they seem to really stand out - community, spiritual formation, serving others, and the digital culture. I need to put these things into a cohesive document to turn in for my DMin work, but the words have not yet fully formed in my mind.

I really don't know where this was going yesterday when I started writing, so I think I will simply release it into the blogosphere and see what happens.

Setting Christ Apart

I am enjoying the first morning of my month long study break. I am setting aside this time to work on my doctoral studies and recharge my batteries. I don't know what all will come out of this time but I am looking forward to it.

The tone for my study break was set yesterday in the sermon I listened to and reconfirmed in our small group study last night. Jason Strand (no relation) a teaching pastor at Eagle Brook Church spoke on Jesus as the "Bread of Life" out of the Gospel of John and last night our small group was looking at 1 Peter 3 and how we are to set Christ apart in our hearts. The key to both these messages was the idea of setting Christ apart, making Him the priority in our day to day life. For me this means e-mails and Facebook updates will have to wait a couple of hours. Focusing on Christ first can set the tone for your whole day. In 1 Peter we see that it will help calm our fears and is will tune our heart so that when we are asked about the hope we have we will be prepared to give a defense.

What can you do or perhaps delay doing to set apart Christ each day?

Renovare Reflection, Day 4

The final day, entered with mixed feelings. Sad that the time went so quickly, but anticipation growing about returning home to wife and family (knowing there was a 2000 mile drive ahead of me). To be honest, my mind really wasn't set to engage to deeply, but I still picked up a few nuggets for John Ortberg in the morning general session. To sum up his conversation in a few words it would be "Don't quench the Spirit." It was through the Spirit that Jesus was baptized, it was through the Spirit the Jesus ministered, and it was the Spirit who Jesus sent for us. Another person at the conference described the work of the Spirit as "happening in the back ground." We don't always see the work, but we benefit greatly from the results.

As I think about this I would say that I am guilty of quenching the Spirit at times. The business of life, unwillingness to respond, or thinking I know better. I wonder about the things that I may have missed as a result of my inaction. I need to be more diligent about responding to the Spirits promptings.

I was blessed by following what may have been one of these encounters on my way home. My goal on this trip was not to venture more than about a mile off of I-35. This interstate highway connects Minneapolis to San Antonio, so I didn't have to veer much off the path. On the way home after stopping at a Kansas rest stop I picked up some material about the Flint Hills region of Kansas. The material was for a future return trip, remember I had my sights set on home. The gal at the information desk then mentions something about a tall grass prairie preserve in this area, I knew I had to go. This 3 hour side trip was quite the blessing, the drive was beautiful, so relaxing and refreshing. The preserve itself was an old ranch built in the mid to late 1800's. I took about an hour walk through the prairie and experience the wonders of God in His creation. Leading by the Spirit, I don't know for sure, but God met me on this road.

How has your response to the Spirit been lately?

Renovare Reflection, Day 3

Yesterday was a day to slow down and begin to digest the things that I have begun to ponder. I gave myself permission to miss a session or two so that I could slow down, slow down, and reflect. I will be posting more about these reflections and ponderings later. For now I want to share with you some thoughts about the general sessions I attended.

The first one focused on this idea of holiness. The speaker was pastor Robert Gelinas. The question that he posed was this, "What does it mean to be holy just as God is holy?" He pointed to Jesus saying He is our model of holiness. The way of the cross is the way of holiness. Eugene Peterson defined holiness as happening when "the ways and means of how God works penetrate the ways and means of how we work." When we act, think, and respond the way God would we are reflecting God's holiness. This is what Jesus did. Look at the Jesus narratives to see how He responded when confronted, when criticized, when crucified. How do you respond in these settings? I know how I respond, it's not always with holiness.

The second session I attended dealt with the idea of Words. Richard Foster was the speaker. He spoke of the overshadowing of words by the visual arts; the trivialization of words by the blogoshpere (not always the initial postings, rather the often unreasoned responses); the corruption of words by doublespeak. These are all great thoughts and as I am in the blogosphere I am being careful about the words I use to share my message. Foster came to this conclusion about words, they must be grounded in and grow out of silence; they must be significant in content; they should be crisp, clear, and imaginative. These are things that I need to work on when I use my words.

Day 4 brings a conclusion to the conference, but not my pondering on the things that I have heard. My prayer is that after bouncing around in my head for awhile those things that I truly need to apply to my life will begin in me the transformation process, to grow in holiness, to be more careful with the words I use, ideas I present, to become more like Jesus and as the theme of the conference says walk in the Jesus way.

Renovare, Day 2

There is a lot that still needs to be processed from day 2. My workshop track prompted a number of great questions to follow up on in my DMin work. Definitions, ideas, and practices that need to be deconstructed and then reconstructed so that I can better understand them.

The general session created there own series of great thoughts to ponder. Rev. Joshua Choonmin Kang, a Korean pastor and writer posed this thought based on the story about Abraham and his willingness to sacrifice Issac, he stated that "we can't see the best God has for us until we give up what is most presious to us." Abraham was willing to give up his son, and then he saw the ram. Are there things you are hanging onto in your life that is preventing you from seeing what God may be wanting to give you?

In another session pastor Randy Frazee we were challange to take an honest assessment of our spiritual walk, using the Fruits of the Spirit + humility as our criteria (on a scale 1-6). This is a two part process, first there is a personal evaluation and then you are to invite three people to also assess you. We don't need to fear that these evaluators will learn some deep dark secrete about you, they already know where you are at, the fear we need to lean into is our willingness to hear their words and embrace a plan to move toward our standard in this are who is Jesus Christ.

In the final general session Dallas Willard spoke on a subject that I have a passion about, servanthood. Dallas put a twist on the old WWJD, instead asking HWJDI (How would Jesus do it?). His answer, Jesus would do it as a servant. He went on to say that servanthood as Jesus lived it was more than just participating in a couple of service projects, but rather it is living a life of service.

I am looking forward to day 3.

Winnie-The-Pooh Spirituality

Last night at the Renovare conference Eugene Peterson spoke about how for many our spirituality is not unlike that of Winnie-The-Pooh. Now I must admit it has been some time since I have read about Pooh and the company of characters that surround him, but I could relate to what Peterson was saying. You see Pooh would often come up with some rather unique thoughts or ideas that were then accepted by his friends as true. For the children reading the story or having the story read to them they to would find Pooh's observations plausible and accept them as well, while we being the mature adult would look upon this with a bit of skepticism at the very least.

Peterson pointed out that as a culture, we are often falling into this Winnie-The-Pooh mentality when it comes to spiritual things. Someone comes up with an idea, revelation, inspiration, or theological position and then gathers around them a group who buy into what they are proclaiming and you have a "new" type of spirituality that will cure your problems and bring you happiness. Some of these new ideas are easy to spot and debunk, but others may be much more subtle and harder to identify.

It is one thing for the culture to deal with these different forms of spirituality, but what about when they creep or leap into the church. Are we ready to call them out? Are we even ready to identify them? Jesus said that "I am the way, the truth and the life..."

This will take a lot more pondering than I have given it here, but I will return to it. What are some pieces of Pooh spirituality that you have seen or heard?

Blessing and Blessed

I had the honor and privilege last Wednesday of being part of a baptism event that involved about 35 men. What was most amazing to me was where this baptism took place. It was inside Lino Lakes prison. The men being baptized were offenders who are serving their time for crimes they have committed. They are all a part of the IFI program run at Lino.

I was blessed by the courage these men showed, by their obedience to scripture, and by the transformation that God is doing in them. They are turning their back on who they were and are now focusing on who they are and who they are becoming. Many of the men thanked me and share with me how we volunteers were a blessing to them. What a join it is to be a blessing and in return be blessed myself.

I have enjoyed my last 1 1/2 years of serving the men in IFI and I look forward to continuing serving them and blessing them in what ever way God leads.

Our Storied Life

If we take time to sit back and listen to other peoples stories we can learn a lot from them, about them, and in some cases how God is working trough them or in them. I have really been struck the last couple of months as I have been reading and writing about online community and community in general and how important our stories are. NT Wright says that we are all storied beings, stories waiting to be told, experienced, or pondered. I had the privilege the other day of writing a blessing for a man who has mentored be for a lot of years. What may have been a struggle for some was for me not difficult because I knew the stories of this man's life. I knew the stories of his professional career, his ministry passion, and his devotion to family.

God used stories (The Bible) to share with us His power, His wisdom, His love, His plan, and His purpose for our life. The Bible begins with the creation narrative and ends with a narrative about our eternal home. In between these stories we see stories of disobedience, consequences, redemption, blessing, God's people, God's church, etc. This stories taken together are what should shape our life, give us hope, give us purpose, and transform us into the women and men God is calling us to be.

My encouragement to you is to take time out of your busy day and immerse yourself into the stories that God has given us; get to know God just a little bit better. Then take a little more time and start to listen to the stories of people you meet. Take an interest in what is happening in their life and be prepared to offer them the hope that we have though Jesus Christ.

Why do I do this thing called Spiritual Formation?

I was asked this question a couple of weeks ago, not in a negative sense (since the person asking has been part of a men's ministry that looks at transforming the heart), but rather as a point of clarification. The context of the question is that if we, as Christ-followers, are covered by the blood of Jesus does it matter how "transformed" we are? When we stand before God, He will not see our sins rather He will see His Son and the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. So why do we concern ourself with becoming more like Jesus?

My first response reflected back to what I have been reading in 1 Peter and how living a life that reflects God can silence the ignorant talk of unbeliever. Our transforming life can be used as a witness to those around us. Do I live a life that reflects who I am in Christ? Is their evidence of becoming more like Jesus? Does the way I respond in different circumstances silence the ignorant talk of the unbeliever? A mentor of mine talks of this notion like this, People aren't going to listen to what you have to say unless they see it lived out in your life. How we live our life matters. So we do spiritual formation so that we may be a witness in the world.

As I have pondered on this a while longer a second reason is that it is a matter of obedience to God. In the Old Testament we see that we are to meditate on scripture day and night, we are to draw near to God, we are to listen for that still small voice. In the New Testament we are called to be perfect just as God is perfect, we are to love God and love our neighbor, we are to seek wisdom. All these things are part of spiritual formation. As we meditate on God's word how can we not be transformed. As we draw near and listen to God we gain a greater understanding of who God is and what He wants for our life. As we love others, as we care for the widows and orphans, those who have no voice in society we are transformed through this exchange.

A third reflection on why we do spiritual formation, and for me this is key, is that it draws me in to a closer relationship with God. In order to gain an intimate understanding of God we need to be transformed so that we can better understand who He is. As a new believers we have a certain level of understanding, but as we grow in Christ-likeness our understanding increases. This increased understanding draws us into a deeper relationship with God. As we are then drawn into this deeper relationship, we are better able to reflect God back to the world around us and we are better equipped to carry out the plans God has for our life.

Leaving a Legacy

We spent the last couple of days in Grand Rapids, MN, a place we called home for more than 10 years. It was a fun time, building a house, helping build a church (Grand Rapids Alliance Church), adding to our family, and growing in the Lord. I often wonder what impact I may have had in my time there. I was given a glimpse of the legacy, the mark that I had left on the church we were a part of for so many years. The mark I left that is still going strong today is a Monday morning mens prayer breakfast. It came to be after an elder's retreat in a deer shack in the woods. I was prompted to pray and invite others into this time also. Pastor Randy believes that all the great things that have happened at the church (and there are a lot) is a result of this group of faithful men praying on Monday mornings. Some 15 years later (11 since we have left) there are still a dozen or so men who still get together and pray and God is still at work in this church, reaching Northern Minnesota for God.

I often wonder where my passion for prayer has gone. I often engage in conversational prayer and pondering prayer, but I seem to have lost that desire to pray for those specific things for my church, my work, etc. I need to pray that God my reenergize this area of my life.

Its funny I had been pondering on this the last few weeks and now God has presented me with an answer from a very unexpected place. But a place where this passion once was very strong.

Pondering, Passion, and Procrastination

It has almost been a month since I last blogged. It's not that I have been off-line, but I think the title says it all. I have been pondering a lot. The Trinity, Divine community, educational technology, online learning environments, online community. Work, personal, and doctoral studies seem to be melding together into some sort of synergistic pondering. I will start on one subject that then shifts to a different topic linked together by a common thread. As I talk to people about what I am studying I am getting a lot of positive response from a variety of different people in a number of different fields. At times I wonder what I am doing or perhaps why I am doing it, but then I get encouragement from an unlikely source and I am reenergized to push forward.

That is the pondering and passion parts of the title, but what about procrastination? That is why there haven't been any postings since the end of April. In part I haven't made the time to post, in part I haven't taken the time to refine my ponderings into some sort of coherent idea to post. As I think about it, this blog will continue to be my ponderings on God, life, doctoral studies, etc. and I will be starting a new blog at http://educationaltechnology-bethel.wetpaint.com to continue on in my work related ponderings. Some of my ponderings may be cross posted some certainly won't.