I am far more interested in jumping that I am in arguing about whose trampoline is better.

"When we jump, we begin to see the need for springs. The springs help make sense of these deeper realities that drive how we live every day. The springs aren't God. The springs aren't Jesus. The springs are statements and beliefs about our faith that help give words to the depth that we are experiencing in our jumping. I would call these the doctrines of the Christian faith.

They aren't the point.

They help us understand the point, but they are a means and not an end. We take them seriously, and at the same time we keep them in proper perspective. . .

It hit me while I was watching that for him (a man giving a lecture on the six-day literal creation) faith isn't a trampoline; it's a wall of bricks. Each of the core doctrines for him is like an individual brick that stacks on top of the others. If you pull one out, the whole wall starts to crumble. It appears quite strong and rigid, but if you begin to rethink or discuss even one brick, the whole thing is in danger . . .

One of the thing that happens in brickworld: you spend a lot of time talking about how right you are. Which of course leads to how wrong everybody else is. Which then leads to defending the wall. It struck me . . .is that you rarely defend a trampoline. You invite people to jump on it with you.

I am far more interested in jumping that I am in arguing about whose trampoline is better. You rarely defend the things you love. You enjoy them and tell others about them and invite others to enjoy them with you.

Jesus invites everybody to jump..

And saying yes to the invitation doesn't mean we have to have it all figure out. This is an important thing to remember: I can jump and still have questions and doubts. I often meet people who are waiting to follow God until they have all their questions answered. They will be waiting for a long time, because if we knew everything, we'd be . . . God. So in the invitation to jump is an invitation to follow Jesus with all of our doubts and questions right there with us. "

rob bell, velvet elvis, pgs. 22-28

Take that "statement of faith"

This post marks a new chapter in my life.

I have a beautiful wife. (more on that later)

I am enjoying a Sabbath.

I am editing my photography.

I am just existing.

I'm not being productive in the traditional sense, but I feel more alive today than I have in recent memory.

I love this.



Anyhow, i hope to be writing here much more often, often joined by my wonderful wife: Ashley Gleason

We are starting our new life together, at the center of which is this desire, to live in touch, in tune, in sync, etc with God and how he intends for us to live. Along with this comes this idea of a Sabbath. Sabbath is a gift, from God to us. A day free from worry and obligation. A day to stop being productive and just be. There is a very good talk on the subject that happened recently at Mars Hill in Grand Rapids, which is in fact made us want to try it so badly. A sermon entitled: "Longing for Rest - by Ruth Haley Barton". Go subscribe to the Mars Hill Podcast on iTunes (or just click here) and give it a listen. Also make sure to listen to "The Importance of Beginning in the Beginning" from the week prior. That message deserves a million blog posts but I will try to do it justice by giving it one very soon. Anyways, Sabbath, a day to enjoy being human. A day to look around at all the gifts God has given each one of us and just be giddy with thankfulness and delight. A day to spend doing the things you love with the people you love. A day to find courage to trust God that everything that needs to get done, will; just not today. For Jews, it's typically Saturday. For Christians, it's supposedly Sunday. For my family, today is the Sabbath, a Wednesday. The only day this week that neither one of us are working. "Floating Sabbaths" may or may not be a good thing, we'll see how that goes.

Hopefully soon I will write about "The Importance of Beginning in the Beginning" the sermon I've been waiting to hear my whole life.

Peace and Grace

Coming Back

I know i'm eventually going to say this again, and I dont want to, but...
I think i'm finally done being depressed.
trying to get back into the swing of things. Finding (or at least looking) for God. Enjoying life. Not sweating the small stuff.
AND I'm getting married in a month 0_o
I'm very excited :D
very
very
excited.
See you all at the Chuppa. :D

I hope God is like that.

I have more coming I promise, I've been really busy.
In the meantime, this quote is really tearing into my soul.

"Here is the God
I want to believe in: a Father who,
from the beginning of creation,
has stretched out his arms,
in merciful blessing, never
forcing himself on anyone,
but always waiting; never
letting his arms drop down in despair,
but always hoping that his children
will return so that he can
speak words of love to them
and let his tired arms rest on their
shoulders. His only desire is to bless."
~Henri Nouwen~

I hope God is like that.

What do you think?

If the man who spoke that quote was gay, does that change what you think of it?