thelokey

I just finished the book "Jesus: A Novel" by Paul Wangerin. It is, you guessed it, the Gospels in the form of a novel. Since it is a work of fiction, some things were added to the story to deepen the character development, but all in good taste. My favorite character in the book turned out to be Judas Iscariot. Weird, right? The author puts a great spin on his character, making him a young idealist that longed to see Israel restored to its former glory. Throughout the book we see Judas as a man drawn to power and the idea of change. He is always well-intentioned. So through the whole book I'm waiting for some moment or encounter to "turn him to the dark side". There's a few times Jesus rebukes him for one reason or another, but the problem is Judas thinks too much and thinks this peace loving, peace making Jesus is just a front. By the time their final Passover comes, Judas is anxious to see Jesus' power unleashed on the Jewish leadership. When...

It's strange to me how the mistakes of history seem to be repeated but somehow the good things seem to get lost. About 2 years ago I was introduced to the idea of contemplation. Since then I've done a lot of reading about ancient Christian spiritual practices. For someone like me who likes history and philosophy, it's been a nice adventure to learn how 2nd and 3rd generation Christians "practiced" their faith. The practice (or "discipline" as it's sometimes called) that I would like to write about today is called "Lecto Divina". Literally translated, it means "divine reading". Now, before I go on, I understand that this may be old news to you and you may already be using this practice in your own spiritual journey. If so, great! If you were like me two years ago, this may seem strange, almost "new agey"...Just keep reading. I would say a lot of Christians (myself included) approach scripture much like a textbook, to be...

Lately I've had less time for myself to do the things I enjoy. Right now instead of getting some much needed sleep before a LONG day tomorrow, I'm writing this blog post. I have made time to upload a lot of new pictures of what's going on right now. So if you click on the "Photo Gallery" link to the right, you can see those. If a picture's worth a thousand words, I can shut up now. Enjoy. http://pics.thelokey.com .

These last two weeks have been...difficult. The transmission on my car went out, I've been sick, summer camps are coming. Well, it's been hectic. But in true "God-like" fashion, my walk with Christ has been strengthened through adversity and I can clearly see God at work all around me and in me. For example, replacing my transmission is going to cost around $1500-1600. This adds up to about 95% of our savings account. A couple of things that I have concluded from this...1) God was not surprised by this turn of events. 2) God has provided us with the money to be able to get the car fixed without going into debt. 3) At the same time He is providing a way out, He's taken away our safety net (AKA the savings account) so that we have no choice but to rely on Him. Which brought me to a weird place. Now we're in a situation where we MUST rely on Him to be all we need. In my morning prayer time I was praying that all this car stuff would be settled and the replac...

This Sunday I'll be singing a song in our AM worship services. I've sung countless songs (literally), but this is by far the most difficult song I've ever attempted to sing. Here are the lyrics... i repent, i repent of my pursuit of america's dream i repent, i repent of living like i deserve anything of my house, my fence, my kids, my wife in our suburb where we're safe and white i am wrong and of these things i repent i repent, i repent of parading my liberty i repent. i repent of paying for what i get for free and for the way i believe that i am living right by trading sins for others that are easier to hide i am wrong and of these things i repent bridge i repent judging by a law that even i can't keep of wearing righteousness like a disguise to see through the planks in my own eyes i repent, i repent of trading truth for false unity i repent, i repent of confusing peace and idolatry by caring more of what they think than what i know of what we need by dom...