trust

Praying a Prayer of Peace for Today

2020-10-15T05:19:09+00:00By Joel|discipleship, francis of assisi, Kingdom of God, Prayers and Blessings, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation, trust|

I remember when I first learned of Francis of Assisi. I was a student at a Lutheran university when the choir that I was in sang a piece that was an arrangement of the words from the Franciscan attributed "Prayer of Peace." Eventually through research I found that there is no evidence that Francis himself wrote the prayer, nevertheless I was captivated by the story of Francis (he did, after all, personify that prayer). It radically impacted my heart. Having been to a third world country out of high school, I returned to the U.S. unsatisfied by what the U.S. culture offered in empty promises and visions of material dreams. And it was not whether it [...]

39 and the journey

2018-01-16T06:48:42+00:00By Joel|Abandonment, Memoirs, memories, Music, trust|

Today I turn 39. One soul-training exercise that I do: create space to remember God's faithfulness. Part of that process is letting go of the frailty fixations of my false self (i.e. regret), and I believe part of that process is inviting Holy Spirit to give me proper perspective on what really matters in life. As I approached my birthday this year, I couldn't help but remember a song that I wrote back in 1999, called 39 (a letter home). Anyone who knows me knows that a conceptual theme for me is the fleetingness of life, and in light of that this place is not our final destination...it's not our home in that sense. We are [...]

Home

2018-01-17T23:48:11+00:00By Joel|Music, nature, Nomad Chronicles, prayer, trust|

"The Kingdom of God is where we belong. It is home, and whether we realize it or not, I think we are all of us homesick for it." - Frederick Buechner This morning I'm sitting on the porch, with coffee, and thinking about home. Which is a little ironic since I'm in my house. But house doesn't equal home. And the worlds that we carry around with us are so much more than the green and blue rock we live on. Frederick Buechner said it this way, “You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, [...]

A Place to Be Human: Meditations on community part five

2014-08-18T22:34:43+00:00By Joel|Abandonment, Bonhoeffer, Christian Music, discipleship, Jesus Shaped Community, Manning, prayer, Safe Place, trust|

As a worship leader, I want to lead others in being authentic; because I believe that when we are authentic and real (with God and each other), our worship is authentic. I fully believe that our identity as Believers is tied up in and defined by Who God is and what He's done. At the same time, I believe that only when we are willing to come to God as humans in our sin and humanity, broken, needy, and honest, is there 'worship in spirit and truth' (John 4:23). There is the 'real truth' of God that needs to break through the false truths of how we define ourselves based on our shame and brokenness, or [...]