A Reminder For Myself

It was recently brought to my attention that I had not posted on my blog in almost three months. Frankly, I have not had anything to say, nothing that I wanted to put down in any formal way. That made me think. I got to thinking about why I started this blog and how I came up with the name - which I thought was pretty cool - so I am reposting a combination of two entries from when I first started this blog as a reminder to myself of where I want to be...

I'm taking off my shoes...
What a weird url for a blog! There is some history to it. I have come across a quote from Elizabeth Barrett Browning about being with God:

“Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.”
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I have found myself thinking a lot about that this morning and what it means. In the Old Testament, God presented Himself to the Israelites as a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night so that He could be seen and easily followed. God appeared to Moses in the infamous burning bush setting, and Moses was told to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. He was barefoot before the Lord.

I like the idea of being barefoot before the Lord. Moses was barefoot before the Lord as a sign of respect for His Holiness, but I also think that it was something more. Being barefoot removes some of the extra trappings that wind up being a hindrance to our knowing Him more. We are exposed.

I want to relax with the Lord, know Him intimately, and grow in that love.
I want to take off my shoes and run around barefoot with my God.

Boundaries

Boundaries - love 'em or hate 'em, but you've gotta have 'em.

The avalanche of encroachment that has been going on the last couple of weeks (in reality, months) caused me to run - no, to vault - over and borrow a friend's copy of Cloud and Townsend's Boundaries for a refresher course. I am already quite a few chapters into it, and it is all very familiar. Maybe it's the familiarity or (dare I say it?) a maturity factor, but it seems easier to grasp this time around. Implementation is another story.

The Golden Rule - Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. On the surface it seems pretty simple, but looks are deceiving. Is it "doing unto others" to rescue them or is it to let them reap the fruit of their choices? When compassion and mercy collide with personal responsibility, personal ownership of your decisions/choices, truly what would Jesus do?

As I was typing the last question, I remembered reading in Will Jesus Buy Me A Double-Wide about a person who was asking another for money because their electricity was about to be turned off. If memory serves, this was a habitual problem. The person who was asked to come to the rescue declined to rescue them but instead promised that he would stand by them, be there with them in the dark so that they would not be afraid.

The question still remains for me, when do you say "yes" and when do you say "no"? Maybe I'll find out when I finish the book?

New Blog Style

I am totally jazzed by my new blog background!!! I love the colors and - as anyone who knows anything about me knows - I love the water. I now open up my blog and can almost smell the salt in the air and the Hawaiian Tropic oil (I know - I just like to smell it - I will use the SPF 50 when I have to!) in my beach bag.

It's been a while since I've posted because it has just been a slammin' summer. Nonstop activity and sunshine and I'm engaging in as much of both as I can. Even so, I have been keeping up on reading blogs and such. Here are a few notables worth checking out:

Lord, Save Us From Your Followers Well worth the watching...

Keith Giles at The Ooze: The Jesus We Don't Know (Yet)

And RJ @ When Love Comes To Town has some awesome thoughts on "doing church as a feast." I love that.

And in honor of my new layout, I'm gonna "Soak Up The Sun."

Handling Criticism

"It's a reality. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone has their own set of expectations (some or most can never be met). Everyone has their own way of doing things. We wave the "thou-shalt-not" statements and laundry list preferences that fly like flags on the fourth of July. Funny how the word "change" is the most feared word in the Church, yet too often, we like to change our minds and comment on anything we think at anytime we like. It's been said before, when you put a group of imperfect people into one room, you are going to have a wide variety of personalities and opinions. As a worship leader, musician, singer or pastor, how do you handle the wide variety of expressed opinions? Importantly, how do you handle those opinions when they come in the form of criticisms?

You've heard it before: "Why do we need drums in church anyway?" "Can't we sing more hymns?" "When is this person going to stop talking?" "Why is she in the choir?" "Why did you choose a song that I don't like?" "Pastor, you did not mention MY name in your sermon."

Read the entire article on Handling Criticism by Branon Dempsey at The Ooze. This is one that I am going to keep a hard copy of so that I can refer back to it!

Learning to Fly

"Followers of Jesus were meant to 'fly'…to let the winds of the Spirit lead them to where they can love, serve and glorify God with their very lives." How often do we voluntarily give up our ability to fly for so little in return? Please take the time to read the complete article on the Parable of the Skylark and the Worms at Spiritual Regurgitations.

No article on flying would be complete without a nod to Pink Floyd - Learning To Fly...