“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10
A picture of my friend Gary having some alone time along the Green River. An epic trip we took in 2006.
I’ve followed Don Miller’s writing since reading Blue Like Jazz several years ago. I’ve given untold copies to friends and folks that I thought would be as blessed and challenged as I was. Since that time I’ve also read his other books and thoroughly enjoyed them all. I’m especially looking forward to the release of his new book A Million Miles which comes out at the end of this month. I’m doing a book exchange with Rhett Smith from Texas – he got a copy of A Million Miles to blog about and I got a copy of Born to Run to share so VOILA, a beautiful match.
I know if you are anything at all like me, you have a stack of books to get through. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this book will quickly filter to the top. As soon as I’ve read it, I’ll share! And if you get it, read it, and share what you learned about story, life and yourself.
Michael Hyatt has done a series of interviews with Don about the new book which are great as well. You can get to them here.
Please share the word.
A Million Miles In A Thousand Years by Donald Miller
As an aside – although no less important. Anna and I support The Mentoring Project that Don runs and gives direction and passion too. If you are so moved, check out the site. I’m going to blog about this more in the future but wanted to mention it.
What books have you read in the past that have totally blown your mind?
Def.: Sustenance:
1 a : means of support, maintenance, or subsistence : living b : food, provisions; also : nourishment
2 a : the act of sustaining : the state of being sustained b : a supplying or being supplied with the necessaries of life
3 : something that gives support, endurance, or strength
My reflection today was on part of a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to a new church in Corinthians almost 2000 years ago. At the beginning of his letter he is giving thanks for the folks in this early church and one of the recurring themes is how they’ve been provided for.
“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:4-9
They were given grace, they were enriched in every way, in all speech, in all knowledge, they lacked no spiritual gift…
They were sustained. And then my mind and heart went to:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:25-34
My wife starts her new job today. She’s a teacher and God provided a teaching job, just at the right time, in just the right way. I’d love to say that I wasn’t worried or anxious at all through the process, but I’d be kidding myself. I was.
God provided…and will continue to.
How is God providing for you today, in both big and small ways?
These photos are random shots of summer flowers that Anna and I took on a trip in late June climbing Wheeler Peak in NM.
I’ve been and am continuing to be reminded of the reality of change. Not all change seems fun. I’m not in a season where I want to “lead” change but I will.
It is in the struggle that we grow. Everything. Everything in life is like this. Even a seed has to die to bring life.
Don Miller’s blog post found here…John Ortberg’s podcast from the first Sunday in January this year…Ragamuffin’s post…and many other small conversations I’ve heard.
We moved to Bend, OR 477 days ago on April 19th, 2009. It’s been a great adventure and it will continue but at this point, it will continue in Albuquerque for a time. We are moving back to NM.
We grow…
I was listening to NPR yesterday and there is a company (I’m sure there are more springing up) that specializes in creating non lethal pirate defenses for commercial ships. Apparently captains don’t want to just give their crew guns. Solutions range from slippery goo that is shot at intruders to audio tones of incredible focus to a water cannon that will knock anybody in it’s path over.
How is it that the enemy always knows where the chinks are? Knows where the vulnerabilities lie or the weakness? If we know we have chinks, why don’t we put up extra defenses around them? One method of security might not work for all things.
We have an enemy, he’s a pirate of sorts. He and his entourage like to attempt to sneak on board the U.S.S. Taylor from time to time and try to wreak a little havoc on the captain. I’ve noticed that more often or not the attacks that come are against my joy. So, this short blog is just to let the enemy know that I’m onto him. I’ve got my defenses up. I’m ready for a fight and my joy is staying.
Bring it.
Ever feel like a fight?
Is it really that simple?
Here’s some food for thought as I wrestled to get this song OUT of my head. You’re welcome by the way…I’ll bet you are humming it right now.
I usually start my day out with some type of alone time to kind of center myself and one of the things I like to do is read the bible. I was reading in the Gospel of Luke today. It’s one of the first 4 books of the bible and it tells a lot of first hand accounts of what Jesus said and did while he was on earth. There’s a story in chapter 12 where he is talking specifically about this idea of worry. [this is him speaking to his main guys]
#1:
22Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
“Therefore” is generally a reference back to something stated before. Just before this Jesus tells this story.
#2:
16 And he told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops? 18 And he said, I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry. 20 But God said to him, Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.
Finally, this is a couple of lines from a letter that one of Jesus’s disciples wrote.
#3:
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
So what does all this have to do with Worry?
Story 1 – The reality whether we choose to believe it or not. We are loved, we are known, we are provided for.
Story 2 – Where most of us, including myself live day to day. Our mantra is “relax, eat, drink, be merry…”
Story 3 – The ONLY strategy that works. Prayer. Petition (supplication) – WITH Thanksgiving. The truth is I’m not happy. Happy is an emotion and frankly it’s a tough time to be happy about much. But I am choosing to be joyful. I’m living with a peace about life and I’m doing it by remember and focusing on the things that I am thankful for.
Don’t worry, be happy is trite, simple statement that doesn’t tell the whole story.
Don’t worry, be happy because you are known, you are loved and you have a whole lot to be thankful for.
Can you name 10 things right now that you are thankful for?
Go share them with someone.
Some of the great quips and quotes from the book Wide Awake by Erwin McManus. Not sure I’ll do this for the whole book but these have really been with me all week and keep coming up in conversation so I thought I’d share them with YOU.
What kind of person do you need to become for your dreams to come to life?
This is one of my favorite expressions. We use it all the time in our business in Albuquerque and from time to time here at work. It’s a pretty simple metaphor, when you watch children playing together they are able to live and create and imagine some of the most incredible stuff. There’s a freedom and exuberance in their play that is refreshing.
In life, this gets more complicated but no less important a goal of interpersonal relationships. Can’t we all play nice in the sandbox?
I’m reading through the book of Romans in the New Testament of the Bible right now. For me, it’s one of the hardest books to read, it’s the most confusing in terms of content and causes me the most question and wrestling. It’s just a very weighty book. I’ve been pushing through and emerged in chapter 12 this morning with a small epiphany. Paul is trying to get the early church to play nice in the sandbox. Even 2000 years ago, the church needed to hear that message.
Something in Paul’s message unfortunately isn’t sticky enough to actually change our behavior, actions and opinions. It might be that it’s just a really complicated deep delivery, or that it’s argued using vernacular and examples that had more connection then. There has got to be an analogy or a metaphor or a story, a way of explaining what it means to live with unity and oneness in Christ in a way that will actually change how we act? Maybe it has to start with a sandbox. What do you think?
If given the opportunity to talk to all the church leaders in America for 10 minutes, what would you put before them to get them to play nice in the sandbox?
By the way, just so you know, my worst injuries always came in the sandbox. My middle brother bashed me on the head with a trowel and sent me to the hospital for stitches, so you do have to have people willing to play nice too.
