'Til Kingdom Come

Tis the Christmas season and my church has had its share of events to celebrate the Advent of Christ. The two big events I look forward to each year are the Christmas concerts. One with adults and one with children. I loved both concerts but for very different reasons. Each allowed to me reflect on the Lord but from opposite perspectives. With the adult Christmas concert there is a sense of Awe. The stage is packed with singers and musicians. This year a stage extension had to be built just to compensate for all the performers. The concert is big in scale and well rehearsed as the singers and musicians perform with meticulous precision. As I sit in my seat I meditate on God's immensity, creativity, perfection, and beauty. My senses can hardly take hold of all the glory of the performance. I just sit there and let it wash over me. There is a purity in the high quality of it all. A week later I attended the children's concert. Dozens of children, ages 5 to 12, crowd the s...

Over the summer I realized that as a single man in my mid 20's I am presented with a conflicting set of agendas for my life. One popular opinion is that I need to take full advantage of my singleness. Travel, pursue goals, go back to school. Figure out what I want out of life.  These are not bad things. They are great things. These may even help me to reach my life goals of marrying a godly woman and having a family of my own. However, I'm also told that getting married and having a family will reveal to me and others the depths of my selfishness and pride. I could wait until that possible day to discover those elements in my heart but I was a Boy Scout and our motto was "Be Prepared". The hope then is that I rid myself of as much of my egocentrism as I can and to live for others now. Where I see the problem is that the life I'm being told to live now is not helping cultivate the life that I seek to flourish in later. I set before me the same challe...

In my last post I discussed the importance of Plasticity in clay. The quality that allows the clay to be easily molded to the form of the Potter. I too must be flexible to the ways in which the Lord is sanctifying me to His greater and mysterious purposes. Sometimes the shapes that the Potter is forming can stretch the clay thin. In these moments the quality that is critical is Strength . The clay must be able to hold it's own and not collapse in on itself or tear. An overly fragile piece of pottery is not very useful. How often do I find that my integrity is being tested? That the stretching and bending of my soul and character are being all at once strained by outside forces and yet conditioned by my Father. One of my favorite verses in scripture, one that I cling to often, is Joshua 1:9. Following the death of Moses, Joshua is faced with the incredibly difficult task of leading the people of Israel into the promise land which in addition to flowing with milk and honey is ...

Previously I discussed the starting process for throwing clay on a potter's wheel. Just as the clay must be centered on the wheel so must we too be centered in God's will to be formed into the right shape. So what makes for a good throwing clay?                                            Possibly the most crucial aspect of good clay is it's Plasticity. This is what determines how easy it is to mold and shape the clay. If you are working with a clay that is low in plasticity you will have to press hard and struggle against the clay to work it into the form that you are hoping for. What does it look like for me to bear the characteristic of plasticity? I ask myself  - Do I resist correction? Am I teachable? When things aren't going my way to I fight the change or try t...

This post is going to be the first in a series I want to do on pottery and the characteristics of clay and how hopefully help us meditate on this verse from Isaiah. But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. - Isaiah 64:8 A few years ago my friend Julie was taking a pottery class at Biola. I stopped by to visit her in the art studio. She was working on a project for class wherein she had to use a potter's wheel and throwing clay. I watched as she tossed a misshapen ball of clay on the wheel, wet her hands and set the wheel spinning. Her hands carefully and methodically guided the clay up and down forming a cylindrical shape. I watched her work for several minutes, my mind mesmerized by her slow and subtle workings on the clay. It wasn't long before this previously shapeless lump was beginning to take the form of a cup. Julie looked up at me, "You want to give it a try?" I chuckled but ha...

And why have you become disturbed within me? These lines come from the writer of the 42nd Psalm. This evening, as on many previous, those words resonated deep within me. I have been feeling anxious. Nothing all too new to me as I am nearly 12 years familiar with the dropping in my stomach, the icy hot tingling on the back of my neck and the feeling of dread and despair that quickens my pulse. What has become frustrating is that I cannot think of any particulars of which I am finding myself fearful. It could be many things, walking about my current home seeing boxes of my roommates things as he prepares to move out tomorrow is certainly a reminder of life's inevitable changes. Which on the forefront I rarely take delight. Could it be the stresses of looking for full time employment? The worries of never finding a loving spouse? The fear of failing the people to whom I have made commitments? Perhaps. These thoughts plague the minds of many at my age but I cannot help but t...

I hate grocery shopping. Neigh, loathe it on many an occasion. I do. The store is cold, the lighting is awful, there is an overwhelming amount of food to choose from the majority of which is bad for me, and it's not fulfilling my purpose in even going. I go because I must eat but in order to do that I have to buy the food before I can eat it. I often think that if I could just take a pill and never have to eat another day in my life I would do it. Part of the problem is that I wait until I have nothing but a bag of white rice in my pantry to go to the store and usually I haven't eaten since lunch and it's 9 o'clock at night and I'm getting cranky. Poor planning on my part. But then again I hate it, so of course I put it off. Those reasons are mostly reasons that anyone might not enjoy going. They are very tangible and in some cases, things that I can correct or plan for accordingly. As I found myself walking into the store tonight I did something I had not done befo...

I'm a lifelong fan of almost all things Disney. As a child Disneyland was my vision of Heaven. I would get excited and prepare for months when I knew our family was planning a visit. I would watch the movies and sing the songs eagerly awaiting the days to be spent at the "Happiest Place on Earth". Our family recently took a trip to the park in March. We hadn't gone as a whole family in years which made this trip all the more special. We were having lunch one day in New Orleans Square where there was a jazz trio performing an array of tunes. For their last song the played "Someday my Prince will come" from the Disney animated feature "Snow White". Several small children instantly recognized the song and made their way to the foot of the stage dancing in the carefree way that children do. I watched as a father danced with his very young daughter. It looked like the perfect picture for a Disney brochure. I could imagine years from now when that little...