I always wanted to be taller. When I was in Jr. High, I had a mini basketball hoop on my bedroom door. I slammed the snot out of that thing dreaming that I was 6’9″ (don’t know why I chose that height) and killing every smalltown Saskatchewan high school team that I could find.
Well, what about 7’9″? What could you do with that kind of size?
More than you might imagine, namely THIS.
I’ve wanted to write on here all week.
Seriously.
And on Monday, my day-timer looked free-er than usual–plenty of time to write. Well, this is my first entry of the week, and its point is…
That I have nothing to blog about.
My “open” week has evaporated into a series of office tasks that I hadn’t been counting on, into my first experience of entering the Christmas rat race in three years (I’d nearly forgotten the beauty of Christmas rats), into an extension of my struggle from last week to concentrate for more than two minutes, and into that annoying debate of whether it’s worth my while to wash my filthy car or whether the right-around-zero weather we’re having will just make it grubby again tomorrow.
Hardly inspiring, I know.
But a friend reminded me this week: “Jay, your blog isn’t ‘Inspiring Stuff’; it’s called ‘A Disorderly Pile of Who-Knows-What'”.
Very true, my friend. Very true.
So in the quest of re-discovering my identity, I’m posting this: A pile of something that amounts to nothing.
Wow.
Sure feels good to have found myself again…
Recent article from the bulletin at church…
You know those words that hit hard and cut deep? The kind that you sense the world needs more of?
Kaj Munk spoke such words.
Born in Denmark in 1898, he went on to become a playwright and pastor. During World War II, his intense and outright criticisms of the Nazi movement led to his arrest and execution. Sometime prior to his death, he spoke these words:
“What is, therefore, our task today? Shall I answer: “Faith, hope, and love”? That sounds beautiful. But I would say—courage. No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth.
Our task today is recklessness. For what we Christians lack is not psychology or literature… we lack a holy rage—the recklessness that comes from the knowledge of God and humanity.
The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets, and when the lie rages across the face of the earth… a holy anger about the things that are wrong in the world. To rage against the ravaging of God’s earth, and the destruction of God’s world. To rage when little children must die of hunger, when the tables of the rich are sagging with food. To rage at the senseless killing of so many, and against the madness of militaries. To rage at the lie that calls the threat to death and the strategy of destruction peace. To rage against complacency. To restlessly seek that recklessness that will challenge and seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the Kingdom of God.
And remember the signs of the Christian Church have been the Lion, the Dove, and the Fish… but never the chameleon.”
Christmas season is a time of merriment, joy, peace, and more. Somehow the word “rage” hardly seems appropriate. Yet the coming of Christ signifies an act of God driven by dissatisfaction with a current state of affairs. His children dead in their sins, destroying themselves and each other—something needed to be done.
And so the greatest “invasion” of all time was set into motion, one in which we are redeemed and then recruited.
Ready?
I’ve been introduced to the music of Jason Morant recently. Seriously good stuff for me in the past couple weeks. He sings a song called “Unashamed Love”. Sometimes song lyrics are a dumb thing to post on a blog, I realize. Minus the music and voice, these could easily just look like words; just more typing on an already cluttered net.
But here it is for what it’s worth. I’m loving that chorus lately–simple and focusing for a frequently distracted fellow like myself.
You’re callin’ me to lay aside
The worries of my day,
To quiet down my busy mind and
Find a hiding place.
Worthy, You are worthy.
I open up my heart and
Let my spirit worship Yours.
I open up my mouth and
Let a song of praise come forth.
Worthy, You are worthy…
Of a childlike faith
And of my honest praise
And of my unashamed love.
Of a holy life
And of my sacrifice
And of my unashamed love.
Head coach Kent Austin…
Time for a new era in Riderville!
If Austin can lead us to another Grey Cup now in the role of coach, I suspect the province will give him a gold-plated grain elevator, a highway named after him, his image etched into a canola crop, a guest appearance on Corner Gas, and status as the official saint of Saskatchewan.
Come on Kent–go for the gold!