25 Friday May 2012
Posted in Leadership, Praying, Wilderness
While reflecting on the importance of rest, God revealed the big picture of why rest is needed. Type A personalities like myself tend to value time and productivity. I have observed this trait in many leaders. We are often driven, effective, competent, proactive—bottom line, we get the job done!
24 Thursday May 2012
Posted in Coffee Talk, Wilderness
One thing I have learned in the last few months is the importance of rest. In my professional career, rest was not given priority. As a matter of fact, the people who rested were perceived as lazy or out of touch with reality. I recall a fellow seminary student asking me last year if sleep was a waste of my time. I replied, “It used to be.” How can one sleep when there is so much to do? Clearly, I was the one who was out of touch.
22 Tuesday May 2012
Posted in Praying, Wilderness
Tags
Sometimes when you are angry or exhausted from life, you don’t know how to approach God. It has been said when times get hard, we should pray. But what should we do when we don’t know what to pray? Some sit in silence out of reverence for the Lord and wait patiently for him. (Most people are not good with that approach.) In the Black churches where I was raised, people would sometimes consider, “If I can’t say a word, then I’ll just wave my hands,” or “When you don’t have the words, simply moan or cry out to God with groans that cannot be uttered.” Later, I discovered that other people would simply shout or dance before the Lord like David did with all freedom until their legs burned and they could no longer hold themselves up. Only then would they collapse to rest in peace knowing that in spite of their current circumstance, God is God and he is at work in the midst of their situation.
17 Thursday May 2012
Posted in Praying, Wilderness
10 Thursday May 2012
Posted in Special Treats
Tags
Okay peeps, life is still pretty crazy right now and I will get back to regularly meeting with you within the next couple weeks, but in the meantime I wanted to give away a book in honor of Mother’s Day Weekend.
I introduced you to fellow Redbud writer, Jennifer Grant, a few months ago and she was kind enough to share her adoption story. I addition to being inspired by her passion for adoption, I was thrilled to meet Jennifer at the Calvin Festival of Faith and Writing last month. She is a sweetheart and has since released her new book, Momumental: Adventures in the Messy Art of Raising a Family. Jennifer was kind enough to have a signed copy of the book waiting at my doorstep when I returned from last week’s travels and I am excited to give it away to one of you.