Well, hello!
It’s another day to get more shiny! More alive! More glorious!
For inspiration, go here.
belief
When my husband told a kid that he’d also have a strong wife: another adven-nurture moment come to life!
My husband is a truth-speaker. He loves to proclaim his love for me as well as my great value. He also loves to inspire others toward the power of marriage. My heart exults over these things about him.
A couple weeks ago, we were in San Francisco, walking with my parents. Along the sidewalk where our feet were finding their way, pleasantly parallel to the embarcadero, there was a wooden curb of sorts to our right. It was essentially a 3×3″ piece of timber, about 8 feet long, used to keep people and things from negatively effecting the construction project underway to our right. We noticed a boy, about eight years old, trying to figure out a way to walk on that beam. My husband encouraged him that it was possible and hopped up on it, using my right shoulder for balance.
“See!” he said, “It’s easy! You can do it too! For me, my wife gives me the strength and support I need to do this and many other things in life. One day in the future you can have a strong wife too, who helps you accomplish great things you couldn’t do on your own. Right now, your mom might be able to help you walk on the beam though. Okay, bye!”
The moment was priceless.
Travel is innately better with this man by my side. We give each other great strength, supernatural strength even. Whether navigating Qalqilya in the Palestinian Territories or enjoying the sunny wind of San Francisco, we get to bring our co-strength and inspire others, even whole cities, with it. Ah, travel! It nurtures our souls, yes; however, we also get to nurture souls wherever we go.
There is adventure, which we love; and there is ADVEN-NURTURE, which we thrive in!
Go find some adven-nurture today! Let us know what happens!
World WReligion Wednesday: Is this guru dead or meditating?
This might simply seem bizarre, but it could also be good food for thought in considering what it means to be dead or alive. Still, it’s a quite curious happening.
You know you want to… walk past fear.
Let this song be your soundtrack.
World WReligion Wednesday: Beatboxing about Passover and so forth
This is great! If you are wanting to become more familiar with Passover and its concepts, listen to this!
World WReligion Wednesday: Misconceptions about Hinduism
“Are Hindus polytheistic or monotheistic?”
This is a question I am often asked, particularly by my students. Typically, Hinduism is popularly perceived as being polytheistic (that is, worshipping more than one god). However, I think that is somewhat inaccurate. In fact, Hindus worship various expressions of the same god. Granted, many Hindus may not perceive this, but I think theologically it is accurate. There is almost always variance between core theology and the way people live out their theology. Some Hindus may align themselves as worshippers of Lord Krishna to such a measure they are not thinking of Brahma, the ultimate creator. This is where the disconnect is. At the top of Hinduism is the Trimurti, a trinity of sorts, consisting of Brahma (creator), Shiva (destroyer), and Vishnu (preserver). Thus, it comes down to one god.
For more understanding of Hinduism, check out this helpful CNN article:
World WReligion Wednesday: Jews: religious group, people, or race?
My students in both Introduction to the Bible and Christianity and World Religions often feel confused about what makes someone Jewish. They understand there is an ethnic identity, but they also see there is a religious component. Not all people who identify themselves as “Jewish” practice Judaism. This is much of where the confusion comes from.
A great article on this can be found HERE.
BELIEF
Today is day four of Advent.
Last night I went to our monthly Resurrection Life meeting. It’s good to be on the leadership team of a group that is focused on raising the dead and bringing fullness of life to people and places. I very much look forward to the time when dead raising becomes more common – when lives are restored toward their destinies and people get to see the love of God powerfully displayed therein.
As I point the footsteps of my heart toward Christmas, I remind myself to stir up belief. In the words of my pastor, “You know your mind has been renewed when the ‘impossible’ becomes logical.” Today, I choose again to train and discipline my heart toward seeing the “impossible” happen.
For me, this includes families living free and powerfully united for kingdom purposes; peace in the Middle East; an end to slavery, child abandonment, and human trafficking; and a world where ecstatic encounters with God and the like (trances, levitation, transportation like Philip in Acts 8, genius ideas downloaded) are commonplace.
I am really excited to see heaven come to earth with increasing measure.
What are you excited about in this advent season?
“The cynics…”
“The cynics, they can only speak of the dark, of the obvious, and this is not hard. For all it’s supposed sophistication, it’s cynicism that’s simplistic. In a fallen world, how profound is to see the cracks?
The sages and prophets, the disciples and revolutionaries, they are the ones up on the ramparts, up on the wall pointing to the dawn of the new Kingdom coming, pointing to the light that breaks through all things broken, pointing to redemption always rising and to the Blazing God who never sleeps.“
– Ann Voskamp
”Faith can look at the facts and still believe the truth.”
“Faith can look at the facts
and still believe the truth.”
– Kris Vallotton
Come believe with me. 