Category: reflections

The vineyard

18/365

In Matthew 20 & 21 its interesting that Jesus tells 3 parables related to a vineyard.

I’m really struck by the third and final one here.

“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”

“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

It’s that last bit that gets me (the part in bold letters – Matt 21:43). I wonder if I’m producing fruit like God requires. Would/could/should the Kingdom of God be taken from me? Do we just ignore this passage and say, “Once saved, always saved?” Do we just pass over it and say that a quick prayer is the fruit Jesus is referring to/looking for?

What are your thoughts? Chew on it, wrestle with it and then share your thoughts.

19/365 for MLK Jr

19/365

for MLK Jr

There’s a great line from the West Wing’s Season 3 – Isaac and Ishmael. Sam Seaborn tells a class gathered at the White House during a "crash" that terrorists never win. They may die for their cause but they never win. They often make their enemy stronger and more determined.

Forty years ago a gunman decided he’d had enough of Martin Luther King Jr. and decided to gun him down outside a Memphis Hotel. Yet King’s dream lives on. Tomorrow, an African American will be sworn in as the President of the United States.

I hope he remembers that love wins. It always has, always will.

Those who choose hate — never win. Those who kill — never win. Those who choose to love — will always win.

"…we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice."

"But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force."

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BTW for those who are curious I did this with two separate images – one with me standing still (2 sec shutter) and the other is the text, written with a green LED flashlight (25 sec shutter). I stacked the layers on top of one another in Photoshop and gave the text layer a pin light blend.

P.S. U2’s new song Get On Your Boots came out today. Yes — it rocks!

one.love

one.love

one.love Originally uploaded by dirtChurch.

Tomorrow is inauguration day. Many of my friends are really excited about Obama’s presidency. I’ll admit, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens over the next four years as well — but I hope I don’t forget where our real hope should be placed.

Anyways… what do you think?

17/365 grace beyond our imagination

17/365

17/365 Originally uploaded by Jonathan D. Blundell.

grace beyond our imagination

Tonight our community group looked at John 1:16-18. We tried a different approach, lectio divina, tonight. The idea is to read, think, pray and live over verses and passages of Scripture.

1. Read – read, reread, reread, reread a passage
2. Think – what stands out to you in the passage
3. Pray – pray over what you’ve learned
4. Live – apply what you’ve learned

John 1:16-18 (the voice) :: Through this man we all receive gifts of grace beyond our imagination.
He is the Voice of God. You see, Moses gave us rules to live by, but Jesus the Liberating King offered the gifts of grace and truth which make life worth living.
God, unseen until now, is revealed in the Voice, God’s only Son, straight from the Father’s heart.

It was great hearing all the different things that stood out for folks in the passage. It’s a great reminder that God speaks to each person uniquely and for us to really know Him we need to share in our collective experiences.

As I reflected, here are the notes I jotted down ::

Jesus is the Liberating King
God’s grace is beyond our imagination — over and over and over and over again
It’s all from Jesus the Messiah

As his grace floods my life – I pray its flowing out to others as well.

Looking forward to the next few weeks as we practice this “ancient practice” further in our group.

14/365 cardio

14/365

15/365 jdblundell


cardio

So I usually feel decent about my cardio abilities — at least when it comes to walking or riding my bike. Last night I decided I’d try 5 to 10 minutes of jumping rope to get some exercise going.

Let me just say — I am out of shape — and I have no rhythm.

I was super winded when I finished and I was unable to jump rope more than 24 times in a row. There was a lot of restarting and getting to 10-15 before the rope hit my head or one of my feet. Geeze.

But I’ll keep pushing on. Maybe I’ll get up to 26 jumps in a row before all this is over!

13/365 tubby tuesday #2

13/365
13/365
Originally uploaded by Jonathan D. Blundell.

tubby tuesday #2

Don’t look happy about it but I lost 3.6 lbs this week. Good for a week I spose, so far I’ve been working on watching what I’m eating — need to add some activity in there somewhere.

So, here are the stats.

This week — 3.6 lbs

Net weight loss since starting the challenge with Thomas on Oct. 10, 2008 — 2.8 lbs.