Praise

Brand new hammock, nice warm day, one fine nap... Interruption from a pre-schooler. Last Sunday I was attempting a sweet siesta in my newest piece of patio furniture when my next door neighbors decided to teach their grandson how to play tennis. You'd be surprised how rowdy retire-ees can get when they are teaching sportsmanship to their 'babies'. Before long I was getting slightly 'annoyed' with their antics and really wanted to ask them to use their 'inside' voice (which would have been entirely inappropriate, so I restrained) until I actually LISTENED to what they were saying.

"Cody, wow! Great Job Bud!"

"You're swell! Watch out Wimbleton!"

"Awesome! You are doing SO good."

At this point I curiously peaked over the fence and there stood Cody standing still as stone while his grandparents weakly tossed bright yellow balls that fell dead off his stationary racquet. I was shocked... surely this kid was not even remotely close to any sort of trophy, yet by the sounds of it, this child was the next tennis equivalent to Tiger Woods!
Naturally I couldn't sleep after this, so my mind began to ponder the points of praise. Cody must have felt like a million bucks. (If you can truly 'feel' anything as a wad of cash )
What if we were to treat everyone like a Champ? What if we were as liberal with encouragement to adults as we are to children? What if we applauded the people we would normally take for granted? I believe the world might be a very different place. Just a thought. Good work Cody!

(I have a feeling, my new hammock may be the source of blog inspiration for many more of my cheesy entries.)

Know Me

"Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,

Let not the mighty man glory in his might,

Nor let the rich man glory in his riches,

But let him who glories glory in this:

That he understands and knows Me..."

Jeremiah 9:23-24

Switchfoot has a point...

One of my best friends and I had a telephone conversation the other day about how our dreams and desires were all meaningless. Don't worry, we didn't go all Ecclesiastical or anything, and we didn't knock the fact that God has designed us to have vision for the future and purpose in the moment, but there was this resounding thought in us that we were meant to live for so much more. Perhaps there is this innate desire, nay a gnaw in us for something grander, greater, more glorious than what this world has to offer. Could it be that our heart's hunger for friendship, marriage, children and even 'success' is simply an appetizer for a more substantial fulfillment beyond our imagining.
Correct me if I'm wrong philosophers, but wasn't it Plato that had this idea that we were living in a cave with our backs to the 'fire' existing as if the shadows were reality and all that it entails... Could it be that if we turned around and faced the source of all Light that we would discover a dimension our feeble imagination could hardly wish for... True life and the glory thereof.
It makes me recall the 'painful grass' in Heaven that CS Lewis recounts in the "Great Divorce" and how the passers through couldn't bear to stand on the divine knoll because the reality of it all was too much for their preferred palate of drab.
People, this world has ripped us off! They've reduced our Creator to Captain Planet whose only real power comes from a bunch of tin rings entrusted to a multi-cultural posse of children... I think there was a monkey thrown in somewhere too!
What I'm trying to say is that there is more. There is something greater. Don't settle for a lesser-existence fueled by lesser-loves and lesser-stories! We were created to live for so much more. For a Glory this reality has yet to sample. Come on! Let's wet their appetite and give this earth a taste of Heaven!

Perhaps

"Maybe we've been living with our eyes half open..."

how beautiful... are your feet...

To all of those who have stumbled upon this blog with utter appallment at my fetish for feet, be rest assured that although I admire the human anatomy, I don’t adore podiatry. Rather, I have created this site for two reasons. I primarily want to emulate some of the most brilliant people in my world that have inspired and encouraged me to write and/or bare my soul online. Secondly I was sort of looking for an outlet to exergete Isaiah 52:7…so here it goes!

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’”

I have consumed this verse (or this verse has consumed me) for quite some time now. You know why I devour it so? Cause it’s talking about those who simply exude the gospel. I get this picture of salvation seeping from every human who knows Jesus… to the point where the world will simply look on and gasp ‘how beautiful’. All those that worship the King of Heaven are being spoken of in this verse! It’s slightly daunting, because in all honesty, I don’t always feel that I personify the beautiful feet aura.

But I love this thought from John Eldridge on this subject… “Have you thought about (God’s) handling of the gospel? God needs to get a message out to the human race, without which, they will perish…forever. What’s the plan? First, he starts with the most unlikely group ever: a couple of prostitutes, a few fishermen with no better than a second-grade education, a tax collector. Then he passes the ball to us. Unbelievable.”

What a thought, that even though our lives may not be committed to eighty hours of ‘ministry’ each week, there is still a God who believes in us enough to call us out as God-revealers to this generation and the next. It may faintly look like proclaiming “Jesus lives” from Mount Sentinel, or it may look like just being true to your faith around your co-workers. In either case God will no doubt say “You are beautiful!” My meager advice: Just keep stepping in salvation and I guarantee that while you do, you’ll stand honored on both sides of eternity and of you it will be said “Dang, you’ve got some mighty fine feet.”

Just as an aside: This blog may be slightly cheesy. You should grab some crackers and enjoy.