Joel

For about 8 months I had a homeless guy living in my yard, his name was Purple. I think I have a heart for the poor. That was challenged when a friend told me about Purple, and asked if I'd open up my yard to him. I said, "OK," and After a few weeks Purple came to my door with his long knotted grey hair and beard. Introducing himself, we looked around the yard for where he could pitch his tent. Buried back in the pines we found a spot, and Purple and his dog (Bear) soon became landmates. When Purple first approached me he said that he wouldn't be staying long because the end of [...]

I think the comedy of the Gospel is that God uses the least likely people to do unlikely things. The world may look at compassion, mercy, and selflessness as a weak thing, but it’s interesting that when God sees those things He sees leadership material. We see this humungous contrast (especially at this time of year) that God uses the weak things of the world to show up the strong, and the foolish things to shame the smart. So the hand that created the universe positioned Himself for His greatest display. A long, long time ago, on a certain night in a village far, far away, a brisk cry of a baby came from a barn. [...]

I got together with a friend of mine the other day for Coffee. Ben, Praying Mantis, is a laid-back guy. In his early thirties, Ben often reminds me a little like a kid. Not in the immature kind of way, I think it's in his outlook on life. He has a great family too, 3 kids, and a cool wife. A few things that always stick out in my mind when I'm with Ben are that (1) he's a dreamer, (2) he likes to work towards those dreams and see what God does with them, and (3) he's honest. Sitting outside of Starbucks on Thursday afternoon, our conversation turned to the topic of being used by [...]

Geanne Guyon once wrote, "What is abandonment? It is forgetting your past; it is leaving the future in His [God's] hands; it is devoting the present fully and completely to your Lord. Abandonment is being satisfied with the present moment, no matter what that moment contains. You are satisfied because you know that whatever that moment has, it contains-in that instant-God's eternal plan for you." Some people come across presenting the Christian life as something that you constantly try to acheive, and even some live under the notion that all is acheived (even to the point of sinlessness) when you are a Christian. The first will make you tired, and the second one will make you [...]