Advent day 7 -- time on the farm...

i am so tired...

josh, jeep and i went to the farm in plant city today -- to visit my parents...

and to cut some firewood...

for us...

and for my parents...

i brought back a whole truck load...

jeep didn't work much BUT he did have a blast...

wish you could have seen him playing with the cows -- so funny!!!

now, a thought before snoozing...

for advent, in addition to reading the bible, i am also reading a new author -- howard thurman...

mr thurman was the spiritual mentor to dr martin luther king...

i am reading a collection of his devotional thoughts entitled "40-day journey"...

i love this pericope...

"god is here...god is in this place...and, we can find him in the simple experiences of daily living, in the normal ebb and flow of life as we live it..."

let's not miss him in the "simple" places of our existence...

have a great sunday tomorrow -- the second sunday of advent 2010...

i am looking forward to the tampa underground...

guy

how is your reflection going on the soil types of our hearts???

this next one -- the CROWDED heart is really speaking to me...

Advent day 6...the SHALLOW soil...

thank god it is friday!!!

it is about 10 p.m. -- pretty cool, but not as cold as last night...

jeep and i just finished our daily 3 miles...

maybe we will celebrate the weekend by doing 4 or 5 miles on saturday and sunday...

i am at a BARRIER of 270 pounds [down from 315 since september] -- i must do something to break through -- my goal is 269 by monday a.m.

that will leave me ONLY 69 pounds to lose [to reach my goal of 200 by september 2011]...

oh well, one day at a time sweet jesus...

tonight, we consider the SHALLOW soil...

"other seed fell among rocks. it began to grow, but the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture..."

"the seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. but since they don't have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation..."

what leaves us with a SHALLOW heart???

depth of soil demands a faith of the head, the heart and the hands -- a life characterized by sharpness of intellect, the fire of spiritual experience and the commitment to serve others with god's love of another kind...

the head alone is inauthentic...and SHALLOW...it gets lost in theory and puffed up with arrogance...

the heart alone is inauthentic...and SHALLOW...it gets lost in bizarre behavior and can lose touch with [withdraw from] the very world the father so deeply loves...

the hands alone are inauthentic...and SHALLLOW...they can lose sight of salvation by grace alone and lose intimacy with jesus through compulsion to "fix" everything for god...

sometimes OUR works make it more about us than about god -- NOT!!!

in my opinion, much of our temptation in christianity is to be extreme -- to be out of balance in the areas we most gravitate towards -- we seldom commit fully to all 3 Hs...

our thing is usually seen as THE thing...

we are taught this [unfortunately] by our faith traditions from our very earliest ages because they often believe and teach that THEIR deal is really the ONLY deal...

maybe it would be better for all of us to love each other [and our heritages] and LEARN from each other...

we could learn so much from the catholics -- especially the franciscans -- about service...

we could learn so much from presbyterians and baptists about valuing theology and studying the word...

we could learn so much from pentecostals and charismatics about worship and hearts set aflame with intimate love for god...

maybe we should embrace the creative tension [i hate the word balance] between head, heart and hands -- pursuing each rather than just our "pet" that strokes our comfort zone...

the only thing we should be totally radical about is loving god [as father, jesus and spirit] with all our heads, hearts and hands... and loving those who already know jesus and loving those who are yet to love jesus...

we are recognized by our LOVE!!!

time to leave the SHALLOW behind -- the call is to depth...

soil [and hearts] that have the fullness to GO THE DISTANCE...

i am in -- fully in...

will you join me in this journey to wholeness, fullness and depth [substance]???

have a great weekend...

guy

anyone else headed to the Third Day concert at the Sun Dome on sunday p.m.???

Advent day 5...Rx for the HARD heart...

it is cold tonight...

jeep and i just finished 3 miles...i was shivering...he was full of spunk...

what did YOU come up with re: a fix for the HARD soil???

let me know -- OK???

i would love to hear from YOU!!!

i have three suggestions, but first, a reality check...

i cannot "fix" my hard heart -- that is a God thing...

a work of the Spirit...

i must cooperate, BUT i canNOT make it happen...

it is God who "fixes" my sin and brokenness...

first suggestion -- sometimes, with tough love, God must break up / crush / pulverize the hardened soil of our heart...

he uses a wide variety of plows -- each tailored to our personal need[s]...

suffering...

sickness...

brokenness...

the honest confrontation that comes through authentic friendship within biblical community -- we need a few people who really do love us enough to tell us the WHOLE truth [with committed love]...

disappointment...

our own personal "gethsemane" -- our "place of crushing"...

remember -- God always acts in LOVE, even when our searing pain seems overwhelming...

his work is always redemptive, never destructive!!!

my prayer is that at the end of our "gethsemane", we will join Jesus in his prayer, "not my will but yours be done..."

suggestion two -- sometimes it is "watering" that softens the HARD soil...

maybe through cleansing tears...

maybe through the river of the Spirit...

maybe through the refreshing waters from Jesus...

we must have the former and latter rains...

moisture works wonders in our dry and hardened heart...

finally, HARD soil needs enrichment -- fertilizer -- nutrients...

from worship music...

from the word...

from intimate talks with Jesus...

from meditation and reflection...

from deep sharing with godly friends...

spicing up our hardened heart...

a final word for the evening...

SURRENDER!!!

in the end, it all comes down to surrender...

opening our clenched fist and fully releasing our life to God...

totally...

completely...

fully...

relinquish control...

surrender!!!

love ya!

guy

Advent day 4...the HARD soil...

greetings...

hope you were able to read -- and reflect on -- the parable of the soil...

remember our guiding question for the next few days: "what does the soil of our heart look like???"

how healthy is our internal being???

what soil type best characterizes our spirit as we begin the advent journey???

"some seed fell on a foodpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it..."

jesus explained: "the seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the evil one come and steal it from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved..."

what makes hard soil???

what makes a hard heart???

maybe one reason is that the footpath has so much traffic -- all the activity packs the ground tight...

maybe our heart gets hard because we have "heard it all before" -- we have become so overexposed that the seed seems to have little power -- we are hardened and looking for something new, novel and different...

or, maybe it is just the opposite -- the path is so hard because it is impermeable and we just don't really care about what God says...

there is almost no traffic in the realm of the spirit...

we have so little hunger for the voice of Jesus...

and, the evil one is so committed to stealing the word away...

plus, the seed is vulnerable as it lays undetected, unwanted and unprotected on the hardened ground -- so many things can come along and squash it...

how welcoming is the soil of our heart???

how much do we treasure the voice of Jesus???

how receptive is the soil of our spirit???

final thought...

what can "fix" hard soil...the hard heart???

would love to hear your thoughts...

i will share mine tomorrow on day 5...

blessings!!!

guy

we have a fire tonight -- what a blessing!!!

Advent day 3 -- testing the "soil" of our hearts...

good evening...

i had a "divine appointment" while sitting at the king corona cigar bar in ybor city last night...

[i was drinking UNsweet cafe con leche...NOT cheating!!!]

i was studying some notes for a class over at the tampa underground...

you know me -- i was pretty focused on my task -- intensely preparing...

as i was sitting at this table adjacent to a nice man from west FL -- he started a conversation...

i sensed god was up to something...

there are times when the "interuptions" of life ARE the main point...

this was one of those kairos moments -- a timely time...

so i put my notes aside and had a delightful conversation with CS about what was going on in our hearts -- what was REALLY going on deep inside...

some testing of our hearts...

checking out the health of our internal "soil"...

what's REALLY going on inside my secret place???

this all started for me a couple of weeks back while riding the train to NJ...

[a real blast -- i love trains!!!]

late at night, bouncing along in the dark, i could not sleep, so i got out my bible...

i read the parable of the sower...

a real misnomer for me -- it is really the parable of the SOIL [not the sower]...

jesus is always the SOWER -- the SEED is always his word and his person -- the SEED of intimacy and relationship...

he keeps coming to us -- offering himself to us -- wanting to fully invade our innermost regions...

never satisfied with just the religious -- or the external -- he craves spiritual intimacy -- he wants to "know" us and be "known" by us...

the variable is the SOIL...the environment...

four different soils...four different environments...

the HARD soil...a HARD heart...

the SHALLOW soil...a SHALLOW heart...

the CROWDED soil...a CROWDED heart...

the FRUITFUL soil...a FRUITFUL heart...

i kept reading this parable of jesus...over and over and over...

in matthew 13...

in mark 4...

in luke 8...

i sensed god speaking a couple of things to me...

first a question for ME -- which soil type describes MY HEART right now...

some heart and soil testing was in store for me as advent rolled around this year...

secondly, i was to share this thought and ask this question of MY family as they are all gathered for thanksgiving...

as the servant leader of the family, i was to ask each of them to test their hearts -- "where are you right now???"

but, i didn't know that there would be MORE...

a conversation, and challenge, to CS...

now, for you...

will you join me in this reflection over the next few days???

i would enjoy our journey together...

please read the storyline from one of the gospels...

pause and reflect...

let's look at each of the four soil types over the next few days in our advent meditations...

OK???

blessings...

guy

YES, Jeep and i made three miles again today...

Advent day 2

good evening...

just finished 3 miles walking with Jeep...

a lap before work [in the dark]...

and two laps after work [in the dark]...

Jeep is such a blessing -- he will NOT take NO for an answer when it comes to walking!

i can be so lazy -- he is really helping me...

i am so thrilled to have lost 45 pounds...

but it frightens me to think of 70 more to go...

guess i must just take it one day at a time...

maybe all of life works better that way...

let's take each day one day at a time...

guy

why is this so hard to do???

maybe it is because we want to "hold on" to control...

surrender is so hard, BUT it is the key...

let's live with an OPEN HAND...

Advent day 1...

I am so thankful for this past week...

For Nancy...

All three boys [and Courtney] were home for the week...

What a blessing...

We had such a great time together...

Thanksgiving dinner including my parents...

A morning fishing trip with my dad [and Matt and Josh] -- we caught 30 speckled perch...

Enjoying Jeep [and his two cousins Mac and Ty from Miami] -- three Boxers are a handful...

Eating well throughout the whole week...

Exercising every day...

Yes, I maintained my new vegetarian lifestyle [except for a trace of oysters Courtney used in making the awesome stuffing]...

No meat since September...

As of today -- 45 pounds lost [hopefully never to be found again]...

One of my foci for Advent will be pursuing more weight loss -- I still have 70 pounds to go...

PLEASE pray for me...

More later...

Welcome to Advent 2010...