Consider the scars that life has left on you. John Lennon said that life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. Every one of us has, like a circus performer, factory worker, or even a government employee, discovered that the wheels of living keep on turning even when you ask for a time out. For some, the brokenness within (and without) is a result of their persistent motion and unflinching force. In the play "The Angel That Troubled The Waters" Thornton Wilder wrote of a doctor who wants to be healed of his 'wounds' and the angel stops him and says no. The following exchange ensues.
"Without your wounds where would your power be? The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children on earth as can one human being broken in the wheels of living. In Love's service, only the wounded soldiers can serve."
Beautiful and amen. So keep your scars. Not as a sponge for synthetic sympathy to salve your selfish soul, but as a mark of authority to serve as Christ Himself served.

Stood outside of Applebees last night trying to get a glimpse of the red moon. When the clouds finally parted and let us take a look (like a bunch of American teenagers in Amsterdam) we ooooooed and aaaahhhhhed, and then went in for half price appetizers. What makes us look at the awesome and yawn? You know how the Grand Canyon is spectacular for about 10 minutes? There's wonder all around us (at least my kids say so) but somewhere along the way we tend to lose our ability to see it. I've come to believe that worship cannot exist without wonder. Lose one and the other goes with it. To regain your sense of wonder......study the common. The way leaves in a cottonwood tree make that amazing rain sound when they all clack together. The way a bird balances on a fence in the wind. The way the air feels after a rain. the way grass feels on bare feet. Wonder. It's a beautiful thing.

Mother Teresa was once asked, “What can we do to promote world peace?” Her answer was simple, practical, profound, and true. She simply said, “Go home and love your family.”

I went to get a suit altered the other day and in doing so I began to wonder how long it had been since I had been able to fit into a pair of 34 x 34 slacks. Needless to say things have changed since college. I was internally furious with myself. After all, my uncles, all over 50, could easily outrun, outhike, and outexcercise me and can all fit into my old 34s with room to spare. So I did my marathon training this morning. I ran my three miles (nonstop) this at 5:30AM with my brother, Brian. By ‘brother’ I mean the Christian euphemism for a ‘good friend’. The funny thing about running with someone is that you push each other on the outside when everything inside of you screams to QUIT NOW! You yell, “Cmon man, pick it up, you can do this…” Actually Brian is doing most of the spurring. I’m pretty much trying to get oxygen. There’s nothing on earth that I like and dislike more than getting up before sunup and running. It’s not the doing of the thing that holds the pleasure and pain but the completion of the task that carries the satisfaction. Certainly there is a joy in the journey and I have embraced the process but I’m motivated by the promise or the destination. Hebrews 11 gives a list of people who had embraced a process (most of them difficult) and were motivated by a promise. A promise that they would not ever see in their earthly lifetime. The destination was beyond good. Beyond great. Beyond physical limitation. Immersed in spiritual reality. It’s no wonder they were able to endure and achieve as a result of that endurance. I may run, motivated alone by getting back into the old 34s, but I’ll keep running if I can find a higher motivation. I may endure hardship on behalf of the Kingdom of God but only if I get a clear view of the eternal Glory of that Kingdom. Ask God for a fresh vision, a new motivation, but only if you purpose to use it to endure and embrace the process that will take you there.

A quiet Tuesday morning in Kenny's Coffee down Merrilltown road, I sit in a matte black leather chair, sipping the dried fringe of a chai from a recently full mug, listening to Dave Brubeck, typing on a mac, oh yeah... I'm starting out a fine week. The weather is earl grey overcast which makes me glad that I wore the long sleeves. I'll feel stupid this afternoon since the weatherdude said it should hit in the mid 90's later on. What does he know? In Austin you need a weather report for each square mile. Don't like the temp where you are? Move a bit to the right and, ahh that's better. I feel a need to wind down and catch my breath after the past month. Took a road trip to California to move a family out here to work at Calvary. A great friend and excellent brother named Paul Q Pek who has become our minister of music and arts. The guy could give lessons in passion to Bono, no kiddin. It's hard not to be enthralled with the otherness of the Glory of God when it's sung about in such a way. I'm thrilled to be working with Paul for this season in my life. It's one thing to look back on things with fondness. It's quite another to be fond of where you currently are. I am. Quite. If I have one complaint these days... Hmmm, I have none. Well I'll be. Now that's how you start a fine week. (On a side note, hello to my good friend, Audrey, who's nursing sick hearts back to wholeness in Baltimore. Our prayers are with you every day. We miss you.)