We are working on our basement. It has been in process for several long months; including thinking about the layout and saving the money for the work.
I really enjoy this kind of thing. It is fun to sketch out the floor plan and look at some finishing ideas, like what kind of doors we are going to use, what color stain, and what will the floor finish be. We have been doing the same thing with the yard; which is not a priority but in the next several years will take the shape of what we are sketching right now.
I used to hate waiting for things like this and would often rush ahead on impulse and buy and do and fudge on the details and not take advice and usually do a lot of crying in the end about the so-so job and the mountain of bad choices and debt. I learned the hard way that debt and fudging are always regrettable. I have even learned to take advice. Even though it often creates an interruption to the momentum.
("Can't we just hurry and get it done? Like, now? Like, my way?"). In the end, stepping back and listening to the experts and redrawing the plans and reconfiguring the room to make it more useful is actually very rewarding on many levels. (OK, OK. Form really does follow function!!!)
The Kingdom process is like this; mostly a long, slow, deliberate build-out. There is a plan. There is a price. There are experts to consult. The job will get done. Its going to be beautiful!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
"Its happening..."
God told Loretta and me early in our marriage that we would be like parents to more than just our own kids. At the time I was excited about the thought and had a "yes" in my spirit. Then the proverbial rubber hit the road. I started thinking wrong and "talking trash" to myself.
Since a couple of weeks ago when the Holy Spirit showed me that I had accepted the thought that "I don't want to be a father anymore" some things have really changed.
I'm posting this because its about God's ways and faithfulness. It was His idea to begin; all I did was respond.
Anyway, I confessed to God that I was tired of fathering and I just wanted to be left alone. Basically God said, "Oh, well..." And that's when I got this new level of understanding about the crosses in our lives. I knew the solution was to take those thoughts and attitudes and put them, with myself, on the cross. I realized, that very day, that the crosses we are called to "take up" are simple acts of obedience to the will of God.
A cross to bear is not a child or person who troubles me or a circumstance that I don't want to be in. The cross is where I put my bothered and inconvenienced flesh. Its not my job to identify the people and circumstances that bug me and change them. Its my calling to crucify the flesh that gets bothered.
So since that day, when I responded correctly, (thank you, Holy Spirit, for the grace to respond correctly), something has changed. There is a new ability to deal with my family and an excitement about seeing people in our house. It seems like our house is becoming one of those places where kids want to hang out. I always wanted that, until people came over; then I'd get all grumpy about the work and mess. Now I don't care; I mean, I don't care as much as I used to (change is a process, right?).
When Timothy came over yesterday to pick up the boys he noticed all the shoes by the front door and told me later, "When I saw all the shoes I thought to myself, 'Its happening.'"
Since a couple of weeks ago when the Holy Spirit showed me that I had accepted the thought that "I don't want to be a father anymore" some things have really changed.
I'm posting this because its about God's ways and faithfulness. It was His idea to begin; all I did was respond.
Anyway, I confessed to God that I was tired of fathering and I just wanted to be left alone. Basically God said, "Oh, well..." And that's when I got this new level of understanding about the crosses in our lives. I knew the solution was to take those thoughts and attitudes and put them, with myself, on the cross. I realized, that very day, that the crosses we are called to "take up" are simple acts of obedience to the will of God.
A cross to bear is not a child or person who troubles me or a circumstance that I don't want to be in. The cross is where I put my bothered and inconvenienced flesh. Its not my job to identify the people and circumstances that bug me and change them. Its my calling to crucify the flesh that gets bothered.
So since that day, when I responded correctly, (thank you, Holy Spirit, for the grace to respond correctly), something has changed. There is a new ability to deal with my family and an excitement about seeing people in our house. It seems like our house is becoming one of those places where kids want to hang out. I always wanted that, until people came over; then I'd get all grumpy about the work and mess. Now I don't care; I mean, I don't care as much as I used to (change is a process, right?).
When Timothy came over yesterday to pick up the boys he noticed all the shoes by the front door and told me later, "When I saw all the shoes I thought to myself, 'Its happening.'"
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Where do you go?
Do you have a favorite place to go to get quiet and where you get recharged? There are places that, even when I think of them, refresh my soul.
I drove down by the Fox River the other day and in just the few seconds it took to wind down the path along the water, I found myself getting quiet inside. Its odd, because the music I was listening to was really loud; like rock and/or roll. But I decided right then, this could become a favorite place. Some of my other favorite places are Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Winchester, Virginia; the stretch of road on Massachusetts Avenue between Wisconsin Avenue and Decatur Place, in NW Washington, D.C.; and a tiny Methodist Campground village in Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania called Mt. Gretna. Some of these places are refreshing for nostalgic reasons and some are just flat-out, drop-your-jaw awesome.
I was going to make a profound spiritual connection with all of this, but I think I'll quit here and let the reader carry on. Where do you go?
I drove down by the Fox River the other day and in just the few seconds it took to wind down the path along the water, I found myself getting quiet inside. Its odd, because the music I was listening to was really loud; like rock and/or roll. But I decided right then, this could become a favorite place. Some of my other favorite places are Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Winchester, Virginia; the stretch of road on Massachusetts Avenue between Wisconsin Avenue and Decatur Place, in NW Washington, D.C.; and a tiny Methodist Campground village in Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania called Mt. Gretna. Some of these places are refreshing for nostalgic reasons and some are just flat-out, drop-your-jaw awesome.
I was going to make a profound spiritual connection with all of this, but I think I'll quit here and let the reader carry on. Where do you go?
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
entitlements
Today we were talking about entitlements. I think of it as the world-view mindset that says "you owe it to me".
Here is a way of thinking that seems like it would satisfy the longings of our soul but, in fact, is a never ending cycle of dissatisfaction.
Imagine never having to work for anything and always being given what you want while living a life of luxury and play. Someone provides your spa and your gourmet dinner and drives you to your croquet game in a black limo and holds your mallet so you have a free hand to carry your refreshments around the lawn. Or more realistically, someone pays your electric bill and your doctor bill and buys your groceries and never requires your participation or expects you to contribute in any way. Imagine thinking like this and truly believing this is proof of love.
I wish this were an exaggeration but it's not. This is a pervasive mindset in our modern culture. Its not often spoken of in such blatant examples, but a current generation, young and old, think like this. It isn't too many more steps until we give our all to a "Big Brother" as long as he will keep us in the stuff.
But this comment today is not about Big Brother or the anti-Christ. Rather, the deepest longing of the soul that searches for satisfaction in things that cannot satisfy. In conversations like this, even the mere suggestion that entitlement thinking is a spiritual problem is received with offense and contempt. This should come as no surprise, since any time the Word of God presses against the carnal mind there is "war".
Entitlement existence and thinking is really a disconnect from the Life of God since the mindset is opposed to His ways. Entitlement says, "me first, why not?; you owe it to me." Jesus said and says, "Give, expecting nothing in return." But there are returns, because He is generous.
In an attempt to sense the Real Love and acceptance of God an entire culture has blindly turned to the lame nurture of government, media, employers, self-seeking friends, and dysfunctional family. Even the best attempts of these finite institutions fail in the end.
Nobody owes nobody nothin'. But God gives us all things freely. And that's the simple point. The gaping canyon of need for love and fulfilment will never be filled with the stuff of this life; no matter how many programs you throw in or how much money is dumped or how many empty "I love you"s are echoed. The need stops with a surrendered heart. Longing fulfilled.
Here is a way of thinking that seems like it would satisfy the longings of our soul but, in fact, is a never ending cycle of dissatisfaction.
Imagine never having to work for anything and always being given what you want while living a life of luxury and play. Someone provides your spa and your gourmet dinner and drives you to your croquet game in a black limo and holds your mallet so you have a free hand to carry your refreshments around the lawn. Or more realistically, someone pays your electric bill and your doctor bill and buys your groceries and never requires your participation or expects you to contribute in any way. Imagine thinking like this and truly believing this is proof of love.
I wish this were an exaggeration but it's not. This is a pervasive mindset in our modern culture. Its not often spoken of in such blatant examples, but a current generation, young and old, think like this. It isn't too many more steps until we give our all to a "Big Brother" as long as he will keep us in the stuff.
But this comment today is not about Big Brother or the anti-Christ. Rather, the deepest longing of the soul that searches for satisfaction in things that cannot satisfy. In conversations like this, even the mere suggestion that entitlement thinking is a spiritual problem is received with offense and contempt. This should come as no surprise, since any time the Word of God presses against the carnal mind there is "war".
Entitlement existence and thinking is really a disconnect from the Life of God since the mindset is opposed to His ways. Entitlement says, "me first, why not?; you owe it to me." Jesus said and says, "Give, expecting nothing in return." But there are returns, because He is generous.
In an attempt to sense the Real Love and acceptance of God an entire culture has blindly turned to the lame nurture of government, media, employers, self-seeking friends, and dysfunctional family. Even the best attempts of these finite institutions fail in the end.
Nobody owes nobody nothin'. But God gives us all things freely. And that's the simple point. The gaping canyon of need for love and fulfilment will never be filled with the stuff of this life; no matter how many programs you throw in or how much money is dumped or how many empty "I love you"s are echoed. The need stops with a surrendered heart. Longing fulfilled.
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