The desire to be cared for by someone stronger than oneself is a necessary part of the human condition. Because this longing to abandon ourselves to another person is so strong, we feel a natural resistance to becoming dependable. We would rather be dependent.
Yet, becoming dependable is precisely what a commitment to ministry requires. In order to minister, I must resist my natural longing to influence others to minister to me.
[From Encouragement, Larry Crabb and Dan Allender, p. 57]
Without our being aware, what we say may be designed to achieve something we are after even when the words themselves seem nobly centered on others.
[From Encouragement, Larry Crabb and Dan Allender, p. 50]
Many people seem to live in utter disregard of the effect of their words on others.
[From Encouragement, Larry Crabb and Dan Allender, p. 21]
Over the weekend I had a few hours to myself to lounge around my room in the castle, so I plunged into a new book by Dick Keyes called Seeing through Cynicism: A Reconsideration of the Power of Suspicion. It is a sober-minded analysis of the cynical spirit of our age, where it came from, what is good about it, and why it ultimately fails. But Keyes, the director of L’Abri in Massachusetts, doesn’t leave us empty-handed: he presents an honest alternative, and takes a redemptive approach to his critique.
I have to confess that he exposed some faithless cynicism of my own that has embedded itself into my psyche from my experience and through the cultural air that I breathe. I’m glad he did, and I think many of you will be surprised to find how deeply you have been affected as well. So consider yourself warned – but also consider yourself encouraged to read it anyway. (more…)
People who bore one another should meet seldom; people who interest one another, often.
C. S. Lewis
The Four Loves (on Friendship)
We must reject a view of the Christian life that emphasizes what we should do more than what God is doing in us by his Spirit. We should reject any view of the Christian life that says that the change God calls us to is impossible, or only takes place in eternity. We should reject any perspective on the Christian life that minimizes the war that rages in our hearts every day – or ignores the fact that God is fighting it for us and with us! The biblical picture is that God meets us in the trials of life, and he doesn’t just give us rules – he gives us his Son! Because of him, what we are called to be is not unrealistic.
From How People Change, by Timothy Lane and Paul David Tripp – a book which I highly recommend because it is realistic, hopeful, and hope-giving.
… has been one of my favorite poems since I first read it in 1980, while I was studying English literature at Oklahoma State. You can read it here. Its first line is one of the best I’ve ever read.
Traumatic experiences can burn images and memories into your brain. I need to burn the Slovak language into my brain, and I may have inadvertently discovered a way to ensure that new words and expressions get carved deep in my long-term memory. The discovery came about this way:
The Slovak word for painting is “malovanie.” There is a very similar word in Slovak that has a very different meaning: “milovanie,” which means, um, “love-making.” During a Slovak conversation session Thursday, I tried to tell my friend that I loved painting. She turned bright red and almost fell out of her chair laughing. I asked her what I said and, after she collected herself several minutes later, she explained my little slip.
I will never forget those two words.
… you will probably be hungry. I recommend that you walk west on Karolinengasse to the Sperl Restaurant. And order the Gulasch mit Knodel. It was some of the best goulash I have ever eaten.
BTW, I’m talking about the Palace Belvedere in Vienna – see the post below on the Mucha exhibit. And the restaurant is west of the Upper Belvedere, but the Mucha exhibit is in the Lower Belvedere. The Lower B is about a 10-minute walk north of the Upper B.
My mother and an old friend are visiting this week and we took advantage of an Alfons Mucha exhibit at the Palace Belvedere in Vienna. I recommend it highly, if you have the chance – the exhibit is well done, with many examples of his work throughout his life. And as I looked at his posters, I admired his distinctive style – and wished that I could be so creative!
