renown

i know, i know, i've been writing about money a lot lately. HERE's one post in case you missed it.

but these thoughts about money aren't my own. these are just some of my fav from Andy Stanley's book Fields of Gold. you should definitely go get it and read it. you can even borrow it from me if you want.

enjoy...

“Any fear associated with giving to God’s kingdom is irrational. It’s on par with a farmer who, out of fear of losing his seed, refuses to plant his fields.”

[WHAT!? holy crap. that's crazy. how is that even possible?]

**The thing to fear isn’t giving away too much, but giving too little.
[yep.] 
[just think about that for a minute]

i love this phrase that Andy uses = "FEARLESS giving." i like it.
Andy asks an AWESOME Question – “why in the world would God drain you of your resources and then not replenish them to accomplish what He’s committed to doing?”
while reading this book i was inspired to do something i hadn't done very often = PRAY and ask God to be involved in our finances!

i think (& Scripture teaches pretty plainly) God likes to fund His mission through people.

He doesn't have to, but that's the way He works it.

He blesses people with the money that He gives to them SO THAT they will be a blessing & bless others with that same money. so that they will be a blessing by funding God's mission in the world with that money He blessed them with.
then He blesses them with even more money. and so they give away more. and then God blesses them with more. and they give away more. etc... etc...
this all seems pretty straight forward to me.

i'm not a fan of the prosperity gospel. in fact i'm the opposite of a fan. whatever that is. i think it's not the gospel. i've made my thougths about that pretty clear before & i echo THIS on that topic.
but i realize that what i'm saying here & what the Bible teaches throughout borders on the line of "prosperity gospel".

i'm saying & i believe that Scripture teaches that God blesses me based on how i give. God blesses me with money in proportion to how i bless others with the previous money He blessed me with.

and i know the televangelists & prosperity gospel peeps may sound eerily similar as they get on TV & tell us to send them $1,000 and God promises to send them back $2,000 or something like that.

& maybe there's not a lot of difference between the 2 other than that Scripture seems to be talking to people who aren't trying to get rich off of giving back to God. it seems to be more about the motive in the heart. a desire to be a blessing. a heart like "sure, ok, You want to bless me more... then i'll just give away more." if you're giving for the purpose of getting rich... to exploit this system God has set up... i just don't know that it works that way.
pretty sure it doesn't.

but i'll be honest - i've been trying it out for a long time now - and still taking steps forward. i read God's promises about that and think "really, God? how far are you gonna go with this?" because so far the more we give, the more God backs up the dump truck of blessings and dumps more on us. you better believe that gives me the confidence and courage and faith to keep giving more and more... knowing that God promises to bless with more and more.

*but don't take my word for all this. it's a principle that God established. it's how God designed His world to work.

Paul writes about it eloquently. the context for this passage below is all about Paul talking to these peeps in Corinth about giving their money to the poor... funding God's mission in the world... blessing others with their money. as he's talking to them about giving he just wants to remind them about a principle...

⁶ "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷ Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹ As it is written:
¹² This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. ¹³ Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, people will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else."

i don't think i can say it any more clearly than that.

it's as simple as SEEDS. if you have 10 seeds and plant 5 - do you have less or more than you started with? well, you have MORE of course. whatever you planted is going to grow and produce tons more of those seeds.
Paul says God designed giving & planting seeds to work the same.

wow.

obviously we don't believe that. or we would give like we planted.
how often do you see a farmer or a gardener plant 10% of his seeds and keep 90% for himself? he would be an idiot.
just sayin'

you PLANT seeds because that's what they're FOR. 
and you give away money because that's why you've been blessed with it. that's what it's FOR.

so, i just can't picture someone giving away all their money to bless others/fund God's mission & then God not blessing them with more to give away.
that's how He likes to fund His mission in the world.

everyone reading this blog is rich. no doubt. don't even argue. if you're sitting in front of a computer or phone or iPad with an internet connection reading this then you are RICH. and Paul says that the whole reason you've been made rich is "SO THAT you can be generous on every occasion!"

AND it's something that actually "accompanies your confession of the gospel." is that confession a little worthless without this generosity to accompany it?

i love the way Luke puts it:
"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

i can remember my Mom and my Dad talking about this one a lot when i was a kid - they would compare it to the way you fit the most leaves into a trash bag. you can fit way more when you press it down, shake it together, etc... "you can't outgive God" they would say.

i don't think it matters how much money you have. just give. you've been blessed. bless others with it.
whether you make $100 a week or $1 million a week - be generous. give it away.

we are MESSED up when it comes to money. we are MESSED up bad.

it's good to make money. it's just dumb to keep it. who do you think God is going to bless with more money? the person blessing others/funding His mission with it or the person using it on themselves?
just sayin'.


as always, renown is a place for me to hash out some thoughts. take ideas and things in my head and actually process them. i fully recognize that i'm probly wrong about a lot of stuff. i would really like to know if i am WRONG in my thinking about this?
am i way off here?
i'm actually asking someone to point that out if i am. tell me.

(i'm not asking - do we live like we think this is true? - because NO! of course we don't. when we truly believe this we will give 90% and live on 10%.)

i'm just wondering if i'm crazy? i don't think so, but the crazy person never thinks he is.
do you feel me?
or you hatin?

a couple weeks ago i was working at a table outside Starbucks. it was a beautiful day and i was "in the zone" writing or ideating about something when the conversation of 2 college girls sitting behind me caught my attention.

it was obvious that they were both college students, probably at UNCC. 1 of them was really upset and the other friend was just trying to "be there" for her.

Because...
1 of her close friends had just committed suicide the day before.

let that sink in.

pretty heavy.

Her friend was obviously in mourning and i was putting my head phones in to try and give them some more privacy... but as i was cranking up some music i heard the friend of the girl who killed herself saying something like...

"She had posted on Facebook a couple days ago - 'my life is a mess. i don't have anything to live for.' i sent her a text and told her it's OK and that we could talk any time..."

the other girl at the table said - "Yeah i noticed her status saying that. then today i saw hundreds of people writing on her Facebook wall about how much they were going to miss her, what a wonderful person she was, how great they thought she was, etc..."

then the girl whose friend had just died got really passionate and said - "See, if all of those people would have just told her how they feel BEFORE, she would have never killed herself! Why did they wait til now?"

YOUR    WORDS   ARE   POWERFUL.

let me say that again...

your
words
are
powerful.

sitting at that table that day brought new and powerful meaning to the quip from Proverbs that = "The tongue has the power of life and death."
or, as another translation puts it = "Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit—you choose."

no wonder Proverbs says that. it's because your words are more powerful than you think!

so use them wisely. use them LIBERALLY. GIVE THEM AWAY!

speak those kind words you want to say.

let those encouraging words fly off your tongue.

when you think something awesome about someone TELL THEM! don't just sit on it.

SAY IT! because who knows...
you may not get another chance.

(This was originally posted to renown on November 16, 2009 under the title "Friend, do what you came to do.")

wow. I read those words this morning and the floored me. I haven't gotten them out of my mind all day. (I've probably read them many times before, but for some reason today they grabbed me...)

I've been reading through the gospels over and over and over for a while. I was about to finish Matthew again this morning when I got knocked over by that phrase Jesus said.
It was when Judas came with his posse to betray Jesus. He says "W'sup Rabbi" & then kisses Him to greet Him and also point Him out. Then Jesus said it...
"FRIEND... do what you came to do."

Are you kidding me? FRIEND? Obviously Jesus knew what He was doing there. 1) because... well, He's Jesus & 2) because He straight up says "do what you came to do." so He know Judas is selling Him out.

And He still calls him friend. I couldn't help but think HOW DIFFERENT Jesus' response is compared to His followers' response when people wrong them. how different Jesus' response is from my response when peeps betray me, wrong me, sell me out, etc... I'm usually not calling them friend.
I think it's obvious that we don't follow Jesus in this kind of love because I grabbed a commentary on Matthew that happened to be nearby. It's a famous NT commentary from a famous commentator that most peeps would know if I said his name... He wrote for pages on this passage but NEVER ONCE said anything about how awesomely loving and kind and gracious it was for Jesus to call Judas "friend". He only talked about how those were the last words Judas heard Jesus say and how those words will ring in his ears while he's burning for an eternity in hell. hmmm... shows where we are as Christians I guess if that's our reaction.

but I just say -*What radical grace and love! I've been overwhelmed by it all day. What if I lived this way? What if ALL of us followers of Jesus lived this way? the way Jesus lived... what a novel idea.

Not to mention just across the page Jesus washed Judas' feet the night before he betrayed Him. Wrote a research paper on that one time and was also overwhelmed by Jesus' unconditional love for someone we would want to hate.

when i think about stooping down i think about plugging something into an outlet. those things are always way down there at shin level. kind of annoying.

i feel like most of the time i'm bent over and wedged into some place i only halfway fit into and it's dark and i'm trying to plug something in. i can't quite see or reach the outlet so it takes forever and i get frustrated with it easily.

or generally i hate stooping down to plug something in because my knees are really bad and i just can't handle the stooping down part. i wouldn't mind if all outlets were like eye level or chest level.

but they're not. so i have to stoop down. and i have to stoop down for all kinds of little stuff. i have to stoop down for all kinds of stuff that's way down below me.

ever wonder what kind of stuff God stoops down for?

God is SO HIGH and so HOLY & Unique that He actually stoops down just to look on the heavens and earth!!! just to get low enough to see!

"Who is like the LORD our God? [implied answer = "NOBODY!"]
the One who sits enthroned on high,
who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?"

nobody is like that! That's the freaking awesome God we know! He's so big, so other, so unlike anything we can compare Him too... that the heavens & the earth are like a tiny little wall outlet that He has to stoop down to even see.

wow. no wonder this same Psalm says "From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised."

for a God like this, i would say so.

(This was originally posted to renown on September 30th, 2009.)

 yeah, I read the whole New Testament of the Bible while I was in the shower! No, I don't have a waterproof Bible... well, sort of, I guess.

A few years ago I heard about The Bible Experience as it was about to be released. It caught my attention. It was going to be an "audio Bible", but not just ANY audio Bible. I had listened to those before and they should be illegal because the guy reading would put you to sleep while you were driving!

No, this was basically a Hollywood-quality MOVIE that you would listen to! (And it is produced by Hollywood producers.) It has all the sound effects, surrounding ambiance, the movie-like soundtrack, etc... Plus each actor plays his character throughout the entire "Story" of the Bible.

And the actors... let's just say they didn't do like the normal Christian movie producers do and get actors off the ABC Family Channel (worst actors in the world!) or get a big name star like Kirk Cameron :)
The best actors in the business came together to "reenact" the Bible! Big time award winners like = Denzel Washington, Cuba Gooding Jr., Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett, Samuel L. Jackson, LL Cool J, Blair Underwood, and even my boy Kirk Franklin!

So, when the New Testament released I went out and bought it right away. It was AMAZING! I told everyone about it. The coolest thing is that it is SO REAL. It feels like your standing there on the hill listening to Jesus' sermon on the mount! It is so dramatic that you get a little scared when demons talk. In fact, riding in the car late one night listening to the gospels, Crystal made me turn it off because it got so intense!

Then last year I won the WHOLE BIBLE "Bible Experience" cds at Catalyst! That was awesome because at that time the whole thing was over $100. Plus the version they gave me also has the complete text & you can scroll/read along with it in your iPod as it is playing in your headphones! Pretty sweet. I love that it's the exact same version I read and use too - TNIV. So it's exactly the same text as what I read in the Bible.

And I am hard core about multi-tasking! I feel like I'm wasting away if I'm not always doing 2 things at once! So, the Bible Experience has been perfect for me. I can always be listening to Scripture... and not just listening... actually experiencing the Story!!!
For example, when we painted our living room 2 months ago I got to listen to the whole entire book of Isaiah in 1 day! (& Isaiah is a pretty long book!)
Driving home from ATL one time I blazed through Nehemiah, Esther, & Ezra... Awesome stories.
*And of course, as the title of this post suggests, I always listen to the Bible Experience in the shower! BUT I've never been strategic about it. I would just pop in a random cd & listen to whatever as I was waking up in the shower 1st thing in the morning.

**BUT, when we got back from vacation last month I decided to be very strategic. I just decided to go straight through the whole New Testament. I put a little Ridge sticky note on the mirror and wrote down where I left off each day. So I only listened to the Bible Experience while I was taking a shower and getting ready (brushing my teeth, etc...). I started on August 14th and finished the whole New Testament yesterday, September 29th!
So, around 1 & a half months is all it took to "read" the whole New Testament... and no extra time on my part... just while I was in the shower!
Now that's what I call a wise use of my time! The epitome of multi-tasking! I love it! And I love the intensity & "realness" of The Bible Experience.

In fact, check out a sneak peek of the experience for yourself below:


The best clip to get a feel for the whole thing is on the Bible Experience website HERE.
and if you want to see more here is a "making of the Bible Experience" video...


You can buy The Bible Experience by simply clicking HERE.

Tomorrow in the shower I am starting on the Old Testament. I wonder how long it will take me to go all the way through it? Probably a lot quicker than trying to hold a Bible and read it while in the shower!

i love to read Proverbs every day. ever since freshman year of college i've read 1 chapter a day (corresponding to the day of the month). this habit has helped make an unwise guy like me a little less and less unwise through the years.

in college one of my best friends, Ethan, had the same habit so we would often talk about what we read that day. those were some great conversations. But every month when it came to the 30th one of us would ask the other - "Dude, do you know what a hyrax is?"

nope. no idea. never even heard of it. but apparently, hyraxes are one of 4 things Agur (the author) says are "small, yet extremely wise".

verse 26 tries to tell us why they're so wise and even describe them a little bit = "hyraxes are creatures of little power, yet they make their home in the crags..."

huh. life changing, eh?

but it really did bug us. for years. we asked people. looked it up. we kind of just always pictured a beaver.

but then Crystal and i went to Kenya last Fall. a place where we stayed the 1st 10 days was crawling with these little fury creatures.

there were tons of them running around everywhere and this is one of the pics i snapped of them.
i asked a guy one day - "what are these things?"
"Hyraxes" he said.

case closed. now i've seen them up close and in person.

here's the really funny part. They would always be crowded all along the little path where we would walk to go to breakfast. Usually they would scurry off out of our way when we would come walking by. but i guess they're so wise that they can sense FEAR. because my wife, Crystal, was definitely afraid of them. (in her defense, they did have these massive sharp teeth.)

one day i went out early and was coming back to our room to see what was taking Crystal so long to come to breakfast. halfway back to our room i heard Crystal shouting "Patrick! help me!"
These little hyraxes had her cornered on all sides and she just stood there frozen as they inched closer. there were like 30 of them! she was pretty much freaking out.

it was a fairly funny scene, but of course i tried not to laugh. i just jumped up there and started shouting like a crazy man and clapping really loud and they all ran away.

now every time the 30th rolls around and i read this Proverb it makes me laugh when i come to verse 26. i can see those hyraxes chasing Crystal around. haha... they are pretty wise creatures i guess.

Crystal still says they are dumb.

i've been reworking a lot of stuff with our budget recently. This past week Crystal and i were having a conversation about some of that budget stuff, what things were going to look like after the baby comes & she's not working, etc...
we had a lot of time to talk sitting in the parking lot that was 485.

i was explaining why i was putting such large chunks each month into the "Crystal's not working anymore fund" and said that basically we have "a lot of extra" now that we don't need... but soon we won't have any of that extra and will need to spend a lot more.
so, i'm setting aside extra we have in these times of "plenty" to prepare for the time of... less plenty. setting aside what we don't need now for when we will need it.

it's like Joseph's story really. There's a story in the Bible about how he interpreted Pharaoh's dreams about the 7 skinny cows and the 7 fat cows = basically there would be 7 years of plenty and then 7 years of famine.
So Joseph, being the wise guy that he was, saved up a lot during the 7 years of plenty so that they still had plenty in the 7 years of famine. great plan.

and then i said to Crystal... "except, it's like we'll be saving up for 7 months of plenty for the famine that will be the next 18 years."

(This was originally posted to renown on September 16, 2009. And i'm happy to say - i'm STILL stuck on it.)

Below is just a chunk of Isaiah 1... God talking to His people saying:



wow, that's pretty hard core.
is it possible that God could feel this way about us?

here's Jon Foreman's updated take on that passage from his song "Instead of a Show":


sometimes i think it's possible that we're kidding ourselves. singing our songs but closing our eyes to the more important things God cares about.

just a reality check.

(I originally posted this to renown on November 4, 2009.)
 
"Those who give to the poor will lack nothing,
but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses."
 - Proverbs 28:27

dang! just read that this morning for probably the millionth time. Can't get away from it so I figured I would write about it in my journal... and now here on my online journal = the renown blog.

that is pretty intense. Pretty hard core. "give... lack nothing... many curses."

I really want to give a lot to the poor. I want to give all I have in fact. There's no sense in me having a lot when some people have nothing.

I can always give more though... and I want to keep trying to give more & more. But I will agree with God's promise in this verse = "give to the poor & lack nothing." I honestly "lack nothing."

On the other hand... "those who close their eyes to them receive many curses." whoa.
So, basically God's financial advice is this: "Give to the poor and have everything you need. Don't give to the poor and you're screwed."

*But I kept reading that sentence over and over and it's even deeper than that! this phrase grabbed me = "those who close their eyes to them"

It's not just those who don't give... it's those who actually close their eyes to the poor. And I'm like "how in the world could anybody close their eyes to the poor?" Then it hit me that this is for us today. It's an indictment of OUR culture! WE close our eyes to the poor! US. American Christians close our eyes to them all the time.

We walk past the homeless guy and look the other way. We see and hear about children dying in Africa because they don't have clean water and we just go about making our car payments! we're closing our eyes to them!

I don't really know what "many curses" looks like for us? but I'm pretty sure it's not good.

I think our ultimate motives for giving to the poor should be an unquenchable love for God and His fame and bringing His Kingdom on earth. And also loving our poor neighbors like we love ourselves. (something like the 2 greatest commands...)

BUT, even though these should be our ultimate motives, I don't think this is a half bad financial plan either!
GIVE to the poor = lack nothing
Follow the rest of our culture and close your eyes to the poor = many curses.

seems like a no brainer to me.

love wins.

it's that simple.

but without love... you lose.

yesterday i was diving into what this guy, Paul, said love IS. you might be surprised at how BIG love is and all that it encompasses. you can read that HERE.

but 1st, Paul lets us know that pretty much anything else doesn't matter without love.

he could speak in other human or angelic tongues... but that's just annoying noise without love.
if he could tell the future and understand pretty much everything... that's nothing without love.

he could have enough faith to literally MOVE a mountain. that would be CRAZY. maybe a little freaky, but also crazy awesome... but as cool as that would be, without love he's still nothing.

he could literally give everything he owns to help the poor... even that, without love, is worthless.

wow. so love is a pretty big deal.

if we don't love we lose. but LOVE WINS.

love is...

patient.

kind.

content.

humble.

honoring.

not all about me.

chill. (not easily angered)

forgetful. (keeps no record of wrongs)

digging truth not evil.

protecting, trusting, hopeful, persevering. it never stops.

never fails.

wow. i thought love was just love.
nope.
way bigger than that.

how are you doing loving?

it's pretty important because
love wins.

(I originally posted this on August 24, 2009.)

most awesome way to start my Monday was singing this song David wrote a long time ago...

"God our Savior,
the HOPE of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,
who formed the mountains by Your power,
having armed Yourself with strength,
who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.
The whole earth is filled with AWE at Your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
You call forth songs of JOY."
- David the songwriter (Psalm 65:5-8)
beautiful. I'm stoked that God, our Savior, is the hope of all the ends of the earth! That's amazing. That's awesome. I am completely filled with awe this morning... God has captured my sense of wonder because of all his amazing wonders. This morning I am singing songs of joy. I can't hold them back.

this is a little private peek into my soul. i hope it's not too personal.

wise & risky & passionate & loving.
that was my prayer this morning.

kind of random like most conversations are and those 4 things just flowed together.

i need them.

we probably all need a double dose of each. so i'm asking for them. and i'm going to keep asking for them a lot.

i do have a crazy love for people. people i see, people i know, and people half a world away that i've never met. i love them. i want the best life possible for them.
but i'm praying that God would make me MORE loving. i want a love like God has for people.

but that love in me sparks this ridiculous vision God's birthed in me for the world. audacious and ridiculous. i'm passionate to see it happen. i'm passionate to be a part of this revolutionary vision. becoming more loving makes me become more passionate.

as far as i can tell, along with more passion comes more risk. so i want to be risky. i'm asking God to make me risky... and then even riskier. i am going to need to take some serious risks in my life time. This love and this passion in me is going to require risk.

but God, please give me Your wisdom to go along with being risky. i'm begging God to make me wise. i want to be risky and wise, not risky and stupid. there's a great balance in there somewhere and i hope i can find it. i really want to be wise like the proverbs talk about. not safe, but wise.

and that's my prayer. a peek into my soul.

God, make me wise & risky & passionate & loving.

(This was originally posted on June 16, 2009.)
 
I love sabbath! (sabbath = basically a day of rest each week.) I have only truly understood it for the past 4 years or so. Louie Giglio and Rob Bell, 2 of my "mentors" helped me to "get" sabbath & dive into the awesome world of practicing it.
Thankfully those 2 men helped me understand and start practicing sabbath just a few months into my marriage. I think it was divine timing! (I had never done it before.)

[*Side note story warning] In fact, I can still vividly remember the exact time when I decided to practice sabbath rest each week. I was driving in my caddy listening to a Rob Bell talk back in '05 after we had just been married. I was in the drive thru line at the McDonald's near our house picking up dinner & his whole thing had been about sabbath & I was like "you know what... I'm gonna do it." One of the best decisions I ever made.

Basically 1 day a week I try to NOT do ANY work. (Like no work for my job). I just chill. I've done that for almost 4 years. Pretty much every Friday is my "sabbath." And it also doubles as date night with my wife, Crystal. I've written about that before HERE.

Because of a super busy schedule & some extra jobs I've taken, I haven't had a sabbath in about 2 weeks. UNTIL TODAY. a Tuesday. And WOW did I need it! (That was the 1st time I've ever gone this long without one since I started.) I can tell that life gets jacked up when I don't get a day of rest each week.
[Today I just went to a late breakfast with my wife @ Sunrise... my fav breakfast joint in Charlotte where I used to go with my dad once a week when I was a kid. Then we did a little grocery shopping. Had some fun at the house. Watched a chick flick she wanted to see & now we're going to sleep. Very spiritual day.]

When I was a little kid I thought sabbath was just a Sunday thing & we weren't supposed to mow the grass or God might strike us dead with a lightning bolt. haha... but the cool part is that God started sabbath as a favor to us.

**Take the whole "God side" out of it even... it's just common sense. You will simply work better, feel better, be happier, function better, be nicer, and enjoy life more! Seriously, try it for like 4 weeks in a row. You will be amazed. You probably won't stop.

Here's some things Louie helped me understand about sabbath:
(the parts below in "quotes" are from him...)
Sabbath is “a day to remember that He is God and we are not. Without Sabbath, we forget who we are and lose sight of who He is.” That's really the heart of it.
I committed to NOT let myself “get to the place where I truly believe the outcome of the story fully depends on me.” Because that would be laughable.

*I don't know about you, but my job NEVER ends. I could work 24/7. Literally ALL the time... and there would still be more to do. I can't leave my work at the office. So when it comes to this sabbath thing for me - there's so much pressure to work on Sabbath because there's SO MUCH to do!

BUT, Louie taught me that sabbath IS RESTING in knowing that "Everything doesn’t hinge on me. If I stop doing my part, the whole world will not fall apart. I am not in control. God made the whole world in six days without any input from me, or my assistance. God doesn’t need me to accomplish His work. I am little. God is huge. I trust Him.” I love it! Sabbath is me getting to heap glory on God through proving/showing my trust in His power & sovereignty.

*When I wake up everyday (after I stumble out of bed) I seriously try to remind myself that I’ve been invited “into an already-in-progress Story in which God was doing just fine long before my little feet ever hit the floor.”
- “Sabbath happens anywhere and everywhere we let go of the controls and lay the cares of our lives at His feet." = that's a pretty simple definition for you.
[most of those quotes are from Louie's pimp book i am not but i know I AM which you can click on to the right & buy it.]

Basically we are all (myself included) arrogant. I guess it can only be our own pride that tricks us into thinking that what happens is pretty much all up to ME. How freaking arrogant is that!??? but we totally act that way don't we!? "I can't take a day off because there's TOO MUCH TO DO!" haha... there's always gonna be too much to do, SO you may as well have a nice relaxing day of rest. :)

Sabbath. It's furious rest. It's a very spiritual thing. And I refuse to trade it for any amount of $ or extra production.

i love me some Proverbs. i read one everyday - the chapter number of whatever day of the month it is.

it's crazy how much Proverbs talks about MONEY! Last summerish as i read through each chapter in Proverbs i wrote down every single time it talks about Money! Pages and pages and pages i filled up. 1 day i'll write about all those thoughts and what it has to say.

but this morning i just read 1 chapter. 28. because today's the 28th. and in just that short little chapter it talks about money in verses 3, 6, 8, 10, 11,16, 19, 20, 22, 25, and 27. Ridiculous. Even more than that talk about money indirectly. pretty much half the chapter.

just a little sampling some of these for fun since it's fresh on my brain:

It's better! i wanna be in that better category. i'll take being poor and blameless any day over rich & perverse.

Sweet. 1st lesson = never exploit, take interest from, or make profit off of the poor... hmmm... seems like most of business is pretty much the opposite. i don't wanna make people hate me but isn't this pretty much what a capitalistic society is all about... taken to it's logical conclusion? i'm just sayin'... i mean, do we just skip principles like this or something?
anyway, 2nd lesson is that all those guys who are exploiting the poor aren't even gonna get all that $ in the end! they're just saving it up for the peeps who are KIND to the poor! that's some beautiful irony.
i wanna be the 2nd guy, not the 1st.

(This was originally posted on January 29, 2009.)

I sat down to read Proverbs 29 today after stuffing myself at the Penguin with a Big Block burger & some fried pickles. (You can read my thoughts about reading Proverbs HERE.)

(I originally posted this on November 14, 2008.)

Sometimes I enjoy reading back through my journal... just looking at what I said to God and what He said to me. Reviewing the conversation we've had for the past months... years...

(This is a repost from July 25, 2008.)

the 100th blog on Renown.