Biscuits & Blessings... thoughts on playdough

Growing up I learned all about God. I learned how he could give me what I wanted.... I learned how he could make me feel better when I was sick... I learned how he give me blessings if I made him happy... I learned that he loved me and wanted to be my friend... I learned how he would always forgive me because of his grace, even if I was not really sorry... I learned all of this and more, and I learned it well. I knew that anytime I needed God, I could rub the lamp and he would show up and make me feel better and fix the mess I had created...
.... But I don’t think that is really God. It resembles him in some ways... but not really... if he really is the creator... if he really holds all power... if the Bible has any truth at all ... then he must be an awesome and terrible and dangerous and scary and good, yes good too, GOD. All of those lesser god’s are nothing but sophisticated stuffed animals which we create because they are cute and make us feel safe and in control... they are no more God, than I am... and we are not in control...

We all want to shine...

I think that we all want to shine... only maybe we do not know it. I think we were created in the image of God... to reflect his glory. Like the moon shining brightly in the dark of night, we too reflect the blinding Glory of our God. The moon does not own any of the light, which it reflects, yet when it is full, its dark and dirty surface is concealed in the pure white reflection of the sun’s light. Even the darkest canyons cast the faintest shadow across the moons face.
We too shine. We shine when our face is turned full into that of our creator. We shine when we let his light shine in our hearts. When we face him, even the deepest scars, and darkest stain are mere shadows... our features are transfigured... Joy and Glory in Christ have replaced the dull complexion of normalcy. Our souls were made to shine!

Half...

"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." ~Anais Nin

With the Middle school ministry that I work with, I am doing a series on Lenses. It is on how we view the world... So often I find that how I interpret the world has more to do with me, than it does with what is really there. I am so tempted to read my own ideas and preferences into the created order of things. I see life through a very particular series of lenses that I have been developing subconsciously my whole life. It is really hard to get a perspective bigger than myself...

*Picture by tory...

Seeking the invisible world...

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18

Leaping...

In december I accepted a call from Elmbrook Church to be their Middle School Pastor. I am so excited to join such an awesome team of people. The ministry is full of awesome volunteers, and I am working with several other incredible staff members... it is really unbelievable how much of a blessing this job is. So the plan is for me to continue with school full time for another year, until jan 07, and then to continue part time after that. Elmbrook has treated Emily and I so well, and has really provided a place for our souls to soak and heal in community. Last tuesday we were offically installed during the Middle school weekly gathering. It was awesome to stand in the middle of a ring of several hundred students who totally love you... I felt unworthy, and it my heart I felt really resolved. I want to be a good shepherd for each of these students. I am amazed at how our lives are so clearly directed from a source much higher than ourselves

Double AA

Congrats to Cory & Vicky on the birth of Ainzley, the newest in the Brown clan.
Ainzley is a very beautiful, healthy little girl! Emily and I got to be with them around the time they were bringing her home from the hospital. She is very little.

Where I've been

The last month has been crazy!. I was at three winter retreats, started my new position as the Middle School Pastor of Elmbrook, and started my second semester of Grad school. I am taking both greek and hebrew... they are awesome crazy, with an extra helping of crazy... I am alive... well even... just busy. SO I have like 50 posts in my head, but not the time to type them down...