I don't want you to miss the author's story of Kevin, a down-syndrome affected 26 y.o. Kevin's physical anomalies affected his ability to speak. He used sign language and grunts.

The pastor called Kevin forward in front of the congregation to give share his testimony, and the pastor asked questions which Kevin then would find a way to answer.

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  Do you think Play is soul training?

Several years ago I was part of a Covenant Group. We set some "rules of life" to live by together. After much discussion about what our "rules" would be, we decided one of our rules of life needed to be "playing!"

Playing! Come, on. Playing? Isn't that the opposite of soul training? Like, be serious.

We realized that all of the people in this group tended to hold jobs with high responsibilities and much stress, and that our collective sense of perfectionism sometimes kept us from a much needed holy act. Yep, we didn't play very well! We felt guilty when we just played!

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"Repent for the Kingdom of heaven has come near" Matthew 4:17

• "He put before them another parable: 'The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field.'" (Matthew 13:24)

• "'The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.'" (Matthew 13:31)

•  "'To what should I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened."' (Luke 13:20-21)

• "'appearing to [the disciples] during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.'" (Acts 1:3)

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The top 10 ministry impacting things I learned from AHA! conference today.

Today's online conference which gave 6 minutes to 40 leaders to share the biggest AHA! moment of their ministry and life inspires me to write about the top 10 AHA's I heard! I tried to knock it down to 5, but couldn't do it. And I'm leaving so much out! Ugh.

The high of the Conference: Leaders who unashamedly shared an intimate nature of coming to grips with sin putting wedges between them and Jesus.

The low of the conference: The infomercials on what books you've gotta buy or read - so you can do ministry. This is the opposite fo the message coming through humble leaders we heard!  Obviously, sales were the number one hoped for outcome. Darn, and I thought it would be all about Jesus and serving Him? Ok, enough whining. Drum roll please . . .

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"If I had been asked, fresh out of seminary, "What is the gospel of Jesus? I would have said, without hesitation, "Jesus died for our sins so that we can go to heaven when we die." . . . I still believe this today. The gospel--which literally means 'the good news'--of Christianity certainly contains this message ... What I later discovered was that there is even more good news." (Chapter 2, The Good and Beautiful Life)

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Spiritual Exercise:

Take 5-10 minutes to sit still with Jesus. 

Ask this question in conversation with him: What would my good and beautiful life look like? What would I be doing? What would you have me doing? What kind of quality would I feel? What quality would you have me feel? Will it involve a major life change?

Now, jot down a few notes and leave a comment here about your #1 thought.

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This is #2 in a series of Lent devotions around the book, The Good and Beautiful Life by James Bryan Smith.

Why do people want a million dollars? "Come on," you say, "who doesn't want a million dollars?"

Hit that pause button! We know getting a million dollars is not what life is all about. When it becomes an obsession, a life-focus, we're in trouble. Life is consumed rather than lived.

And yet, we secretly hold onto the notion of getting that big easy paycheck one day. Isn't that what the "Lottery" exploits in us? I've known myself to let out a quiet little whine, like a hair that pops out of place. "Well, still I'd like to have everything I want. And, of course God, I would use it well." I'm such a deal-spinner!

Simply, we are fooling ourselves. We will always want something we don't have.

Consider the story of the rich, young ruler who had it all and then some! After a conversation with Jesus, he went away very sad.

Hey wait a minute! Shouldn't we feel really good after a talk with Jesus? Wow. Sometimes what Jesus actually says so challenges what I want. Sometimes a good talk with Jesus causes great volcanic eruptions inside, and we're yelling a silent scream, "No!!!" 

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A mid-week call to reflect. What has a grip on your life's energy?

Romans 1:21-23 (NIV) ²¹For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²²Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

A quote from the book:

Idolatry: We must have a god.
"We would like a god who would do a lot of good for us and ask very little in return. The solution: create an idol ... Idols do not have to be little images; they can be anything we invest our lives in, in order to gain pleasure, happiness and a false sense of purpose. . . . Here is the key: the idol serves us by giving us our desires, and we serve it by sacrificing our life energy to it."

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Chapter 1.

So, what do you think about this quote?

"The meaning of earthly existence lies not, as we have grown used to thinking, in prospering ... but in the development of the soul." Alexander Solzhenitsyn as quoted in The Good and Beautiful Life

Our author meets Ben, a person who spent his life's ambition in the  opposite direction: absolutely hell bent on prospering at all costs. And it has cost him quite a deal: wives, children, friendships, and a harshness inside. He made his first million by the age of 25 years old.

That's not bad, I'm thinking. Wouldn't you like to make a million dollars in a few years time? Isn't that really our dream? I know we're all saints, but consider for a moment. Wouldn't you really like to get a million dollars? TV shows have been written around what you would give up for a million dollars.

Isn't that the truth? You would have to give up something to make that million dollars? I know the myth out there. You could go ahead and live the way you're living. You could just tweak a few moments in life to get that  million. You could pray for money and it would become attracted to you somehow? You could still place "nice guy" and do it.

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"Recently there was a poll taken that asked this simple question: 'What did your parents want more for you - success, wealth, to be a good person, or happiness? Eighty-five percent said happiness."
--in The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ by James Bryon Smith

I'm intrigued. I think my parents would also have chosen happiness. But was their definition of happiness correct?

The book's premise is that we live our lives striving for happiness in the wrong way. Amen, brother.

What if we lived out of Jesus' own narrative, replacing our narrative with Jesus' narrative? In other words, we've built up a system of beliefs, and life experienced deductions or philosophies we live out of - making up a circle of ideas we stick within. But what if we replaced this circle with a new circle - namely, with the circle of ideas and philosophies Jesus lived within?

We believe happiness is bought. Oh yeah, we say, "Money can't buy happiness." But we still act as if it does. Marketers know our reality, and they create rich, sexy, and appealing ads. We're really more savvy than to fall for that line, right? Then how come it reaches us at our base level and we go out to buy it??

We need a check-in between what we say and what we do. But really, we need a circle swap inside! The story we live out of needs to match up with a real story of life. Voila, happiness!

What did Jesus say happiness is? Jot down some notes for yourself and get ready to "do some of this course together"over the next few weeks. I'll write the next segment of this column, "The Good and Beautiful Life," on Fridays.

* If you want to be a part of this Lenten book group, read the blog and comments, or receive this via email, you will have to register on this site to be included. Feel free to contact me.

(Create an account, check your email, and once you verify your registration, Log-in. You will see a new menu option, "The Journal.")

Book Info: This is apparently book #2 in a course meant to be used in a group. The first book is The Good and Beautiful God and the third book is The Good and Beautiful Community.  If you want to pick up your own copy of the book we're discussing, The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ, Amazon sells both a Kindle version and a regular version.

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