"All that is not the love of God has no meaning for me. I can truly say that I have no interest in anything but the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. If God wants it to, my life will be useful through my word and witness. If he wants it to, my life will bear fruit through my prayers and sacrifices. But the usefulness of my life is his concern, not mine. It would be indecent of me to worry about that."
The last journal entry of Father Dominic Voillaume, taken from
"The Signature of Jesus"By Brennan Manning
Dominic Voillaume was a French priest who spent his life in the service of the poor. He died of cancer at a very young age. From what I've read of him, he had a magnificent grasp on the real force of sin in our lives and of the fact that, despite our best efforts, we are capable of nothing good on our own. His quote so eloquently explains that truth. I have been so guilty of trying to craft something great for God and missing the mark totally. God didn't save me because I had anything great to offer. He saved me because he loves me and whatever else He accomplishes with my life after that is completely up to Him. The only potential I have in myself is the potential to mess everything up. Surrendered to His will, however, great things can be accomplished. But that is strictly His doing! whenever I try to inject my will into it...regardless of how noble my intentions...I just end up wrecking it. Abraham learned this lesson with Ishmael.
So all any of us can do is wake up each morning, offer the day to God to do as He pleases, and enjoy the ride. In the end, it takes all the pressure off of us and we avoid what Fr.Dominic called the "indecency" of trying to do it ourselves.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Monday, September 29, 2008
A few important thoughts...
Hello gang...
Not breaking the hiatus just yet. In fact the only reason I took the opportunity to post is that I am right now sending some financial summaries to a lender for a friend of mine who is developing a neighborhood here. That and I am sending resumes out by the dozens, but there have been no bites. Tell the government I need a bailout too. Not 700 billion. a few thousand would be nice.
Now...
Two thoughts on my mind today. One is Matt Bryant. Matt Bryant is the kicker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I am not a Bucs fan and until yesterday I had never even heard of this guy. But he kicked three field goals yesterday including the game winner over the Green Bay Packers. Now that wouldn't normally be something to write about because, after all, that's what he gets paid for. However, Wednesday morning his wife went into the nursery to wake their little 4 month old son only to find he had passed away in the night. No cause of death is known just yet, but SIDS sounds likely. They had the funeral Saturday and on Sunday, Matt Bryant...in a desperate attempt to find something that felt normal and to honor his little son, went to work, held up under pressure, blew kisses skyward every time he kicked a ball, and made us all remember what is really important. Far beyond the score or the sounds of the crowd, or the money or fame, there is a shattered family and a mom and dad who won't be the same ever again. This man did what a lot of dads do when the world falls apart...they find one thing that is still the same as it was before tragedy struck and they go do that thing. He needs to be strong for his family and maybe the only escape he has right now is on the field of play with the game riding on his shoulders. In an era where one miss will get your locker cleaned out and the collective psyche of an entire city is riding on the strength of your leg...finding solace in that pressure speaks volumes about how much he must be hurting. God bless you Matt Bryant. You are forever in my prayers.
Item two...election year.
I have a friend here in Nashville who has just been making the rounds of all the talk shows radio programs in an effort to raise support of the pro-life candidate in this years election. She has the single most compelling story anyone has ever heard in that she is, herself, a survivor of an abortion. Her mom had tried to abort her and she survived the process, being given "the gift", as she says, of Cerebral Palsy in the process. She is amazing and inspirational and heroic. But my worry...and my dismay...is that she will be swept under the rug of mainstream conservative media until the next election cycle, once November 5 rolls around.
Why is abortion only discussed in depth every four years? Why does the pro-life argument only get ratcheted up into the public discourse when the presidential office is on the line? Why is my friend's story not as important in non-election years as it is right now? Why?
The first president I ever voted for was Ronald Reagan. The cornerstone of his election was anti-abortion / pro-life ideology. He did his part, giving us a conservative, constructionist Supreme Court for the first time in about 15 years back then. And what have we done? Nothing?? We once again sat back and expected government to change the hearts of people. It doesn't work that way. We don't pray, we don't weep, we don't do anything at all to keep this crucial topic at the front of the public agenda. It should be of far greater importance in school board elections and local governmental offices than the presidential debate. Why? Because that is where the public opinion is formed, not in the White House. The White House is occupied by the end result of the public psyche, not vice-versa. We elect a candidate that reflects who we are as a country at the time, we do not elect a candidate who reflects who we should become! I wish my the Conservative Christian world out there would understand that and stop looking to the President to do what only God can do by changing hearts. The effective prayers of Christians who really believe that abortion is wrong can render abortion clinics useless and close Planned Parenthood forever without ONE law being changed. Roe v. Wade could become an afterthought in a long forgotten social war if we prayed like it really mattered, and loved like it would really make a difference. But we want to decry the other side as the worst kind of humans, and wait for the government to make them act like us. The same government that can't balance it's own collective checkbook. We need to stop viewing the other side as something less than humans. It's awful what abortion does...but the fact is that both the baby and the mother are destroyed in an abortion...it's just that the mother lives on. They need some measure of kindness in Jesus name.
I've done my heavy share of stupid things in Jesus' name. I've acted harshly and signed Jesus' name to it. But the recent situations I find myself in and around, have taught me otherwise. Give me love, first and foremost. 99.999% of all people already know they screwed up...that's why they lie or make excuses instead of just coming out and admitting they screwed up first. They so desperately need to know we will love them anyway that they won't admit what they did without first trying to whitewash it so you and I won't hate them. They are screaming inside with the twin voices of "I messed up everything!" and "Please don't turn your back on me...you're all I've got".
They don't need hatred and they surely don't need rhetoric. They need the kind of love that will make this very important issue just as important next January 21st as it is January 20Th.
I'm so disgusted I hardly care who wins anymore. God is bigger than either of these men. He doesn't need our congress or our courts to end infanticide. He needs people who believe what they say they do...regardless of where it is in the election cycle.
Not breaking the hiatus just yet. In fact the only reason I took the opportunity to post is that I am right now sending some financial summaries to a lender for a friend of mine who is developing a neighborhood here. That and I am sending resumes out by the dozens, but there have been no bites. Tell the government I need a bailout too. Not 700 billion. a few thousand would be nice.
Now...
Two thoughts on my mind today. One is Matt Bryant. Matt Bryant is the kicker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I am not a Bucs fan and until yesterday I had never even heard of this guy. But he kicked three field goals yesterday including the game winner over the Green Bay Packers. Now that wouldn't normally be something to write about because, after all, that's what he gets paid for. However, Wednesday morning his wife went into the nursery to wake their little 4 month old son only to find he had passed away in the night. No cause of death is known just yet, but SIDS sounds likely. They had the funeral Saturday and on Sunday, Matt Bryant...in a desperate attempt to find something that felt normal and to honor his little son, went to work, held up under pressure, blew kisses skyward every time he kicked a ball, and made us all remember what is really important. Far beyond the score or the sounds of the crowd, or the money or fame, there is a shattered family and a mom and dad who won't be the same ever again. This man did what a lot of dads do when the world falls apart...they find one thing that is still the same as it was before tragedy struck and they go do that thing. He needs to be strong for his family and maybe the only escape he has right now is on the field of play with the game riding on his shoulders. In an era where one miss will get your locker cleaned out and the collective psyche of an entire city is riding on the strength of your leg...finding solace in that pressure speaks volumes about how much he must be hurting. God bless you Matt Bryant. You are forever in my prayers.
Item two...election year.
I have a friend here in Nashville who has just been making the rounds of all the talk shows radio programs in an effort to raise support of the pro-life candidate in this years election. She has the single most compelling story anyone has ever heard in that she is, herself, a survivor of an abortion. Her mom had tried to abort her and she survived the process, being given "the gift", as she says, of Cerebral Palsy in the process. She is amazing and inspirational and heroic. But my worry...and my dismay...is that she will be swept under the rug of mainstream conservative media until the next election cycle, once November 5 rolls around.
Why is abortion only discussed in depth every four years? Why does the pro-life argument only get ratcheted up into the public discourse when the presidential office is on the line? Why is my friend's story not as important in non-election years as it is right now? Why?
The first president I ever voted for was Ronald Reagan. The cornerstone of his election was anti-abortion / pro-life ideology. He did his part, giving us a conservative, constructionist Supreme Court for the first time in about 15 years back then. And what have we done? Nothing?? We once again sat back and expected government to change the hearts of people. It doesn't work that way. We don't pray, we don't weep, we don't do anything at all to keep this crucial topic at the front of the public agenda. It should be of far greater importance in school board elections and local governmental offices than the presidential debate. Why? Because that is where the public opinion is formed, not in the White House. The White House is occupied by the end result of the public psyche, not vice-versa. We elect a candidate that reflects who we are as a country at the time, we do not elect a candidate who reflects who we should become! I wish my the Conservative Christian world out there would understand that and stop looking to the President to do what only God can do by changing hearts. The effective prayers of Christians who really believe that abortion is wrong can render abortion clinics useless and close Planned Parenthood forever without ONE law being changed. Roe v. Wade could become an afterthought in a long forgotten social war if we prayed like it really mattered, and loved like it would really make a difference. But we want to decry the other side as the worst kind of humans, and wait for the government to make them act like us. The same government that can't balance it's own collective checkbook. We need to stop viewing the other side as something less than humans. It's awful what abortion does...but the fact is that both the baby and the mother are destroyed in an abortion...it's just that the mother lives on. They need some measure of kindness in Jesus name.
I've done my heavy share of stupid things in Jesus' name. I've acted harshly and signed Jesus' name to it. But the recent situations I find myself in and around, have taught me otherwise. Give me love, first and foremost. 99.999% of all people already know they screwed up...that's why they lie or make excuses instead of just coming out and admitting they screwed up first. They so desperately need to know we will love them anyway that they won't admit what they did without first trying to whitewash it so you and I won't hate them. They are screaming inside with the twin voices of "I messed up everything!" and "Please don't turn your back on me...you're all I've got".
They don't need hatred and they surely don't need rhetoric. They need the kind of love that will make this very important issue just as important next January 21st as it is January 20Th.
I'm so disgusted I hardly care who wins anymore. God is bigger than either of these men. He doesn't need our congress or our courts to end infanticide. He needs people who believe what they say they do...regardless of where it is in the election cycle.
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