In the religious tradition I grew up in (and in society as a whole), there was and is a strong focus on the will. The phrase that best embodies the idea of the will is “Just do it.” Nike — just do it. Nancy Reagan — Just say no. It’s quick, simple, and has theContinue reading “The Difference Between Willingness and Capability”
Tag Archives: change
Game-Changers
[featured-image link=”null” link_single=”inherit” single_newwindow=”false”]123rf.com[/featured-image] When I was younger, I had a lot of answers. Now I’m older, and I have a lot of questions. The few things I feel like I know, I know with more confidence than before. Here are things I know from experiences I have had that have radically changed my view of GodContinue reading “Game-Changers”
The Christian craving for guilt
Christians love feeling guilty. In fact, they positively crave it. In fact, to Christians, guilt feels like devotion. The popularity of books like Francis Chan’s Crazy Love and David Platt’s Radical testifies to this. Anyone who speaks or writes of all the ways the church is blowing it, falling short, and insufficient is almost destinedContinue reading “The Christian craving for guilt”
Embracing Powerlessness, prt. 4 — “Are you telling me to be a doormat?”
If you have read all the posts in this series, you may by now thinking that what I am suggesting here is that you simply give up and become a doormat; that you resign yourself to being walked on by everybody, letting life steamroll you, and settling for whatever scraps fall from everyone else’s table.Continue reading “Embracing Powerlessness, prt. 4 — “Are you telling me to be a doormat?””
Embracing Powerlessness
There is freedom in embracing powerlessness. Most of the time we’re scurrying around trying to fix things — relationships, issues at work, problems with the cars, problems at our kids’ schools — our lives seem like a bewildering array of problems, all of which we believe we have to fix. We believe this deeply enoughContinue reading “Embracing Powerlessness”
Be the Change, prt. 2
It is easy to understand why some people are mystified by this idea that everyone needs to change only him/her self. If I take that seriously, it comes off sounding like I’m the ONLY one who needs to change. Most of us are not prepared to go from thinking everyone else on earth needs toContinue reading “Be the Change, prt. 2”
Be the Change
[featured-image link=”null” link_single=”inherit” single_newwindow=”false”] One of Gandhi’s most famous quotes is, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” This pretty well wraps up the heart of true spirituality. True spirituality stops “waiting on the world to change,” recognizing that the world will not change until individual human beings change. The reason thisContinue reading “Be the Change”
Temp Arbor 