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Leave Space

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It occurs to me that one of my consistent mental exercises is the one where I try to take all the current changes in my life and extrapolate future events. I should say possible future events. This is a close cousin to rehearsing a conversation you are going to have repeatedly before the actual person you plan on talking to is involved. It is kind of like emotional planning. If I can think of all the worst possibilities then I can lessen the sting of surprise, I can better “handle” disappointment if I can expect it fist. I had a student once that was worried about visiting their parents. They spoke about the past of their relationship and just vented about how it all made them feel. While writing this I remember what I told her and am slightly embarrassed because I so often fail to keep my own counsel or heed my own advice. I told her to feel her feelings to pick them up and then put them down and to leave space for her parents to surprise her. Maybe it will all happen as you expec...
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Revival

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  In 1906 there began a movement in America which saw the bringing together of both black and white Christians in the Holy Spirit filled worship of God. The movement began in a small house on Bonnie Brae Street in Los Angeles, California. The small congregation soon moved to Azusa Street where it grew and began the Pentecostal movement. This movement crossed racial divides and denominational lines at first, but when it too became a denomination, it reestablished the racial divides were so entrenched at the time. The Azusa Street revival was birthed out of the holiness tradition began by John Wesley. The link between the Azusa Street Revival and Methodists is a focus on the Holy Spirit and focus on a personal experience with God. In my study at Seminary the Azusa Street Revival seemed to be a lynch pin in my study of church history. You almost can’t understand Christianity in America or the Evangelical movement without knowing what happened there. The Holy Spirit moved, and He cha...
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Learning From Littles

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       Small eyes see more than we are often comfortable with. Especially when it comes to our own faults, internal logical inconsistencies, and insecurities. They learn slowly the truths they are permitted to speak and the ones that are not socially acceptable. They are not to tell the truths that hurt feelings. While many times this advice is warranted to learn how to be kind rather than cruel, the problem is our children will come across fragile people. Fragile people have many true statements that act like landmines ready for anyone intrepid enough to try and get to know them. The landmines are the times they are triggered, lash out, and attempt by inappropriate means to protect their fragile ego. We cannot avoid these people exactly and as such our children will not be able to either. They will meet them as their teachers, their friends, and their bosses. For folks that are typically non-confrontational we favor a filter that tries to avoid these unpleasant si...
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