TopekaStew

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, but I do not want to share in his sufferings or conform to his death." - Phil. 3:10, adapted I thought of the above adaptation of Paul's words as I was running 14 miles this morning. But do you think it's a package deal?

I've been encouraged by several of those I respect to blog more. I've decided, therefore, to do more of my wrestling with the text here. I usually do most of this in my private journal. In part that's because I don't like to arrive too quickly at answers to deep questions. I like to ask the question of the text and of God and then stew on it for a while, allowing the Spirit to work a deeper answer in my soul. I don't need head answers. I need heart and soul answers. My question for today is this: What is the connection between love for one another and holiness? Today I read in 1 Thess. 3:11-13 that Paul was praying for the church to love one another and all "so that" God would work holiness in their hearts. Looking forward to the day when we will all stand before the Father, Paul was praying for them to be ultimately right with God. And so he prayed that they would abound in love "so that" God would establish them blameless in holiness. ...

It happened again yesterday. Not long ago I stole a saying from Dave Ramsey. When people ask me, "How are you?" I now answer with Ramsey's, "Better than I deserve." For me this is simply an acknowlegment of God's grace. I'm saying to them and at the same time reminding myself that no matter how good life is and no matter how bad life gets, I am where I am by the sovereign grace of God. The responses I get, however, are interesting. Often it's just a pregnant pause. The person in front of me has not heard that before and he or she doesn't know how to reply. They pause and stumble through an, "Uh...well...." and then they awkwardly move on. I've taken to quickly following "Better than I deserve" with a question for them in order to keep the conversation going. Yesterday, I heard a reply I've gotten several times and am not yet sure what to do with. Conversation is an art, not a science, I know that, and so I'm tryin...

"For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at the root." - Henry David Thoreau

Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, "...you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit...." They suffered with joy. And it became an example for the believers throughout the region. It's hard for my American mind and heart to completely wrap around that. We tend to think that if we're suffering somebody should pay. If we experience affliction we want to call a lawyer and sue somebody. One of the preachers who's helping me to understand biblical truth about suffering is John Piper. He reminded me again this week that God's ways are often too big for me to understand. Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.

"Community matters. That's about like saying oxygen matters. As our lungs require air, so our souls require what only community provides." - Larry Crabb What would you be willing to sacrifice to live in rich, rewarding community? The following, taken from Randy Frazee's The Connecting Church, is an example of what I dream about happening in central Topeka. "Several years ago my husband and I built a home in a heighborhood of about a hundred homes. It was a great neighborhood--perfect for raising children. Just on our street alone there must have been twelve children. All of the kids would play out front and make up games. People were always out walking and would stop to talk. We had lived in this neighborhood for about two and a half years when we came across this beautiful piece of property on one and a half acres, with lots of trees and a creek at the back of the property. We were so excited. This would be the perfect place to build our dream house and raise ...