Prayer. A word that means different things to different people. We all know we need it, but then why do so few of us do it? Why does something which is supposed to be so simple end up being so hard? We know the importance of prayer and we could speak endlessly about the priority it should have in our lives...but in practice, we don't do it!
Sound familiar to anyone else?
Read MoreWe wrapped up Spiritual Sweat II with an inspirational message about how we can turn our SHORT TERM spiritual highs into LONG TERM spiritual growth. The answer?
PERSONAL DEVOTIONAL LIFE. A habit of daily spending time with our Heavenly Father and the Lover of all mankind.
Read MoreOnly two weeks left in our FINDING YOUR FLAVOR journey and this week we looked at the two spiritual flavors that I know quite a bit about.
ENTHUSIASTS: connecting with God through expectancy (that's me)
CONTEMPLATIVES: connecting with God through adoration (that's my wife)
Christianity is all about a relationship with a supernatural God and so therefore we shouldn't be surprised if that God works in supernatural ways. Enthusiasts and Contemplatives are all about connecting with God through mystery and wonder.
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“Lent is here! Lent is here! What do I do now? Gotta get rid of all the meat in the house… gotta buy LOTS of veggie burgers instead… and tofu… and anything that tastes like plastic. What do I do next? How much should I fast? How much should I pray? How much should I read? And WHAT should I read? SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!!!”
Never fear my brothers and sisters, Fr. Anthony’s Wednesday blog post and Periscope are here.
Today I’ll share what I am “doing" for Lent (even though I don’t like that expression and you’ll see why in a minute) and I’ll be answering your questions about anything Lent-related in today’s scope at 12:30 pm EST
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For unto us a Child is born Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder And His name will be calledWonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end. (Isaiah 9:6-7)
As I prepare for Advent this year, I’ve been meditating on this verse. I cannot seem to get away from it; it’s like a meal that I am savouring. I am lingering at the table, inhaling the fragrant scent, the fullness of flavours on my taste buds, enjoying the vivid sights this passage provokes.
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Rushed…unprepared…disconnected… that’s how most people admit they feel every morning when they begin their day. You know the feeling too don’t you?
It’s feeling like you’re behind before you’ve even started your day because you snoozed three times this morning. It’s feeling like you’re lacking energy because you skipped your morning workout and grabbed a donut for breakfast at work. And worst of all, it’s feeling like you didn’t really connect with God today and you can’t remember the last time you actually did.
To me, there’s nothing worse than starting off my day in a frenzy…feeling rushed, unsettled and unprepared before the day has even begun. THAT IS THE WORST!
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I am sitting here on my 5 hour flight flying across the country – from East Coast to West Coast – and I am dead bored! I tried sleeping; but that only lasted an hour. I need something to keep me occupied so where do I turn to? Where does one go in this modern world when bored and looking to pass time?
To our trusty friend... TECHNOLOGY! He's never let me down...
...until just now. This is how it went:
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Imagine getting on a sailboat, sailing for 25 years and then stopping all of a sudden. You've forgotten where you came from… you have no idea where you are… and you don’t have a clue where you’re going. All this time you’ve sailed aimlessly with no clear direction and now it’s too late to do anything about it.
Unfortunately, that’s life for too many of us. In a generation where distractions couldn't be more numerous, this is where many of us find ourselves.
But that is NOT what God wants for us. That’s because unlike us, God is intentional. Everything He does is intentional and done with purpose. Everything.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18)
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It's Thanksgiving week and that means some good old fashioned R&R for me. So no post today. But I didn't want to want to leave my faithful readers high and dry, so here is the post I wrote last year, just after Thanksgiving. It talks about how I spent my holiday and how I used Thanksgiving week to get plenty of REST - but not exactly as you might think. Take look below and see for yourself. It's a crucial reminder for all of us as we head into the holiday season.
“Best week ever! Gotta make this a yearly tradition! I definitely got the rest I needed!”
That’s what I keep telling everyone who asks me about my Thanksgiving Week. We did something very special this year. We rented a large house out in the mountains and spent the entire week there along with the rest of our “medium family” as my kids like to say.
(fyi, little family = mom, dad, kids; medium family = grandmas, grandpas, uncles, aunts, cousins; big family = church family)
Totally away from everything. No commitments, no email, no phone calls, no meetings... no agenda at all! In fact, the only thing on the calendar all week was a little football game that took place on Thanksgiving Day. You may have heard about it – those who live in the DC area sure did. In case you didn’t though, let me fill you in…
Washington Redskins 38, Dallas Cowboys 31.HAIL TO THE REDSKINS! Skins fans – it’s time to go ahead and make those Super Bowl reservations now!
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At a beautiful site in the mountains, I sat at a pond meditating on the beauty of God’s creation as revealed in the majestic mountain, the trees, the farmland, and the farming animals. As I looked in the pond I saw a beautiful reflection of the tall trees and the mountain on the surface of the water. It was a splendid view of God’s creation reflected on the still water of the pond.
Suddenly, a wind blew on the surface of the water and the pond became wavy. The beautiful picture of the mountain and the trees became distorted and unclear as if it was no more there. After a while, the wind stopped, and the water became still again, and the beautiful picture of the trees and mountain appeared again reflected in a splendid view in the pond.
I meditated on this event and thought of what happens in our personal life. When we are still and at peace, and our hearts are pure, the image of God is reflected in our life and we can see God “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). Also, others can see God reflected in our life: “So that I live, not I but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
Read More“We aren’t just reading words; but we are seeking the Word thru words.”
You can't speak about prayer without speaking about the Scriptures - aka, the Word of God. If the goal of prayer is a conversation with God, then true prayer requires time spent prayerfully in the Bible.
That was the topic of Week 5 of the Extreme Makeover: PRAYER Edition series - PRAYING THROUGH SCRIPTURE. Take a look at the video and find out what it means to pray through Scripture, why we need to do it and most importantly, HOW it can be done.
And if anything stands out to you and you think it's worth sharing, be sure to use the hashtag #PrayerMakeover when you share it.
One day I sat at the pond and saw a beautiful, elegant, pure white swan sailing in a majestic way on the still water of a pond. She came in my direction and I was amazed at her beauty, elegance, and splendor. She didn't make any noise but kept on sailing swiftly in the pond.
Suddenly, a batch of ducks invaded the pond. I'm not sure if they were fighting each other or what, but they were quacking loudly and making so much noise. They quickly disrupted the calmness and serenity of the quiet pond. The swan did not mix with them; she passed them and went on her way.
After a while, the ducks came out of the pond and started eating the grass around the pond. The swan did not get out with them but kept sailing in the pond in her majestic way. She never mixed with the ducks. Later on, a nice lady brought food to the swan. The lady started calling her to come and gave her food to eat. She talked to her and the swan was happy to be in her company. After she was fed, the swan went back peacefully on her way. She lived alone in the midst of the noisy ducks.
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“Launch out into the deep.” Those were the words that the Lord Jesus spoke to Peter after a long night of work (see Luke 5), during which Peter labored and toiled to catch fish but had come up empty. After that night of frustration, Jesus commands Peter to go back out into the deep waters and let down his nets and try one more time to find what he was looking for.
You probably know how the story ends [Peter catches more fish than he knows what to do with], that isn’t the point of the story.
Read MoreWe kicked off a new series yesterday - one that I am super excited about, called "SPIRITUAL SWEAT: Exercise Yourself Toward Godliness".
In it we're talking about 7 spiritual disciplines that were given to us from the earliest days of Christianity and how practicing these disciplines will help us "get into shape" spiritually. If you are serious about your spiritual life in 2013, you will love this series! Here's the first week on the discipline of MEDITATION.
A familiar scenario for most people: the alarm clock goes off. You set it early this morning because you have so much to do and you really need to get a head start on the day.
You know the importance of starting your day with some quiet time with God and you’ve seen the fruit of that when you’ve been consistent with it. You also made that resolution to exercise and you really want to get back into shape. Add on top of that the ever-increasing demands of your job and your need to get in early and get some work done before the chaos of the day ensues. Bottom line: YOU NEED TO GET UP EARLY TODAY.
But despite all those reasons, 9 out of 10 times you end up doing the same thing…SNOOZE!
And you continue to hit the snooze button – every 9 minutes if your clock is like mine – the whole time calculating in your head what you can cut out of your morning routine in order to get some more rest (if I don’t eat breakfast I can sleep for another 3.5 minutes). Sound familiar?
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“I dream my painting and I paint my dream.” ― Vincent van Gogh That’s one thing that we don’t do enough of. We don’t dream enough. I believe that my life will ultimately be defined by my dreams. And so will yours. Tell me your dreams and I’ll tell you the ceiling of your life. Dreams set the destination and direction of our lives. You’ll never reach a point past your dreams.
Yesterday I spoke about having dreams and about how our heavenly Father has big dreams for us. Today I want to talk about the steps we need to take to turn those dreams into reality. I’ll talk about the first two steps today and then continue in my next post on Thursday.
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