Tag: relationships

11 things I love about the institutional church

I put out a call for blog ideas Sunday night on Twitter and received an interesting idea from my dear friend Theresa Seeber (@theresaseeber)

Hmm, I think loving people who are difficult to love. Or the positives of the institution.

Two great ideas! I feel like I’ve written a lot about first idea but the second idea is something I don’t ever recall writing about.
Continue reading 11 things I love about the institutional church

You too can change the world – 50 words or less

“We may not be able to change the whole world, but we can change the whole world for one person.”

Shaun Groves and his band of bloggers are returning from the Dominican Republic today. Take some time to learn what they’ve learned.

(What are other folks saying this weekend in 50 words or less?)

Things I’ve learned from Twitter (in the last 24 hours)

What we do

I was sharing with my life, Laurie, the other night that it’s amazing how intentional folks are on Twitter (and many on Facebook) about relationships.

I can send a txt message to 30 people and I don’t typically get any responses. I can share one message on Twitter – and within minutes 10 people from literally around the world let me know they’re praying for me. (UPDATE: I don’t mean that to say that folks who get my txt messages don’t care — see comments — but to hear or see someone actually say it does me good. I guess that’s why one of my big love languages is verbal/encouragement 🙂 ).

You really do have to be intentional about building relationships on Twitter. Otherwise it probably seems really pointless and a waste of time.

If you’re not into building relationships – you probably wouldn’t care that Jonny Baker is planning to live blog from an emerging worship conference in Oklahoma City.

Olly says girls have skills when it comes to putting on make-up in all sorts of situations.

Tripp Fuller and Chad Crawford scored an interview with Phyllis Tickle to discuss The Great Emergence. I’m looking forward to hearing the interview on their Homebrewed Christianity Podcast.

Mark Batterson is working on a new book – and likes to do it early in the morning.

Many people are still super buzzed about Obama’s election. However I think things are a little different for my friends over on Facebook. Does that make Facebook more conservative and Twitter more liberal? Or is just my friends?

Kevin Hendricks has written over 12,000 words in the novel he’s writing for nanowrimo.

Bruce Wagner has created a network at unitysocial.com. Looking forward to checking it out in a few minutes.

Sara Jane is going to UMHB’s homecoming this weekend.

Thomas went to see Sigur Ros last night while his wife stayed at home making Christmas cards and many of us on Twitter gave him a hard time about it. Today he found out he’s hosting a quiz for his team at work.

Trucker Frank is loading his truck in Shakopee MN, where it’s snowing a bit and then he’s heading to KC.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! If you’re still reading this, you should probably be on Twitter. If you’re not – well then I’m talking to myself – and my friends already on Twitter ;-).

Friends through adversity

I’m in the midst of reading “If God Disappears” by David Sanford. It’s an interesting read thus far. It hasn’t made it to the top of any of my reading lists yet, but several points he’s made have stood out so far.

As we talk about relationships and our relationship toolboxes, I thought these thoughts lined right up with several aspects Brian’s touched on over the last several weeks.

Over the years, I’ve discovered that whenever someone becomes enraged at me, odds are we’re only two steps away from becoming good friends.
Why?
First, because that person is emotionally engaged in our relationship. That’s passion!
Second, because if true Christianity is about anything, it’s about reconciliation. Once a matter is settled, the other person and I are bonded. Sometimes for a while. Sometimes for life.
The same principles apply to a relationship with God. He isn’t defensive or threatened when we feel angry at him. After all, we’re passionate. And he’s equally passionate about being reconciled to us, whether or not we want anything to do with him right now.
God is waiting for us to express our innermost feelings toward him and then ask ourselves, Is that true, or is that how I feel?
Sometimes we’re not angry with God, it turns out. Instead we’re angry at a caricature of God we’ve painted like graffiti on the walls of our psyche.

I can think of a couple times this has played out in my own life. Most of them came from my time working at a newspaper. Many people would write in and be angered about something I or another writer might have written. If handled correctly, we could often get to the bottom of the issue and with understanding and patience, a great friendship and bond grew out of it.

Other times, if one side or the other is firmly set in their way and there’s no chance to agree-to-disagree or build understanding, the relationship may be doomed from the get go.

I hope that I do all I can to avoid being to set in my ways to offer understanding and love to anyone and everyone – regardless of what we may disagree upon.