For the Joy of the Journey

Takeaway (con’t)

George June 11, 2009

The second book I recently read is God Work by Randy Harris. Randy has been a favorite speaker of mine for many years. I found his 7 question test designed to assess progress toward becoming a fully devoted disciple of Christ particularly helpful and challenging.

Number 1 – “How has my life been simplified?”

Number 2 – “Who are the people from whom I get nothing and who have come into my home lately?”

Number 3 – “For what and whom do I pray?”

Number 4 – “How has my speech been affected?”

Number 5 – “How are you doing with your desires?”

Number 6 – “What’s happened to my relationships?”

Number 7 – “Have I become increasingly indifferent to circumstances?”

Even without commentary the questions are worthy. But, Randy’s unique and thoughtful commentary on each sharpens their focus and cuts to the heart of the matter.

Takeaways

George June 9, 2009

Two books that I read recently were excellent and I thought I would share some “take aways” from them. The first is A Testament of Devotion by Thomas Kelly. Originally published in 1941, Kelly’s book is a classic on spiritual devotion.

Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. Yielding to these persuasions , gladly commiting ourselves in body and soul, utterly and completely, to the Light Within, is the beginning of true life. it is a dynamic center, a creative Life that presses to birth within us. It is a Life Within which illumines the face of God and casts new shadows and new glories upon the faces of men. It is a seed stirring to life if we do not choke it. It is the Shekinah of the soul, the Presence in the midst. Here is the Slumbering Christ, stirring to be awakened, to be come the soul we clothe in earthy form and action. And He is within us all.

He asks all, but He gives all.

Don’t grit your teeth and clinch your fists and say, “I will! I will! Relax. Take hands off. Submit yourself to God. Learn to live in the passive voice – a hard saying for Americans – and let life be willed through you. For “I will” spells not obedience.

June 8, 1962

George June 8, 2009

47thanniversary

Fourty-seven years ago today Ann and I were married. It was grand event. A very traditional wedding.

Little did I know what lay ahead for us. The only plan I had then was to be married to Ann and I’ve have stuck to that plan. I don’t have intention to deviate from it. Just about everything about me has changed but the the fact remains that I am married to Ann. I am thankful that has not changed. Thank you Ann for all these years and I am happily looking forward to the years ahead. I love you.

Friend

George June 4, 2009

When our family moved to Abilene in 1972 so that I could return to school at ACU, one of the first persons we met were Roy and Bonnie Shake. Living just a few doors down the street, they were a blessing to us. I suppose I could describe them as chaordic (someone I heard or read coined that word – chaos/order). For the two years we were there we enjoyed their love and hospitality. Bonnie was a special friend to Ann. There are a lot of people that we meet briefly along the way, and of those there are only a few that are special. Despite our brief encounter, our experience with Bonnie and Roy is permanently imprinted on our souls. As I recently read A Testimony of Devotion, I thought of Bonnie.

When we are drowned in the overwhelming seas of the love of God, we find ourselves in a new and particular relation to a few of our fellows. The relation is so surprising and so rich that we despair of finding a word glorious enough and weighty enough to describe it. The word Fellowship is discovered, but the word is pale and thin in comparison with the rich volume and luminous bulk and warmth of the experience which it would designate. For a new kind of life-sharing and of love has arisen of which we had had only dim hints before.

Thank you Bonnie and Roy.

Bonnie Lou Sargent Shake

Abilene

Bonnie Lou Sargent Shake, 71, departed this life for one with the redeemed on Saturday, May 30, 2009 in Abilene, Texas.

She was born Feb. 3, 1938 in Madison, Wisconsin to Fred and Ila Sargent where she attended school and graduated from West High. On June 7, 1957, she married the love of her life Roy Eugene Shake . In time they moved to Texas where she attended Abilene Christian University and raised six children. Bonnie’s life revolved around people, and she found her calling in rearing children, operating a home day care, mentoring young mothers, and teaching special needs students at Thomas, Woodson, and Bonham elementary schools. The Shakes were also beloved foster parents to more than 100 children through Christian Homes of Abilene. Although small in physical stature, Bonnie was a giant in service to many people. This joyful, selfless and faithful woman of God was an active member at the South 11th and Willis Church of Christ and was well known for her hospitality and home made rolls.

She is preceded in death by her parents and survived by her husband Roy, one brother Dale Sargent, her children Roger and wife Susan, Dan and wife Deonna, Linda Allen and husband Kevin, Gary and wife Lisa, Tim and wife Shelley, daughter Misti and eleven grandchildren (who will greatly miss “Memaw”). In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in honor of Bonnie Shake to benefit Sam’s Place, a home for deaf orphans in Kenya, Africa. These may be mailed to the South 11th and Willis Church of Christ, 3309 S. 11th St., Abilene, TX 79605

Antidote for Judgmentalism

George May 31, 2009

I just finished reading Love Is an Orientation: Elevating the Conversation with the Gay Community by Andrew Marin. It was an eye opener for me. Marin tackles tough questions that arise when Christians engage the subject of homosexuality. Some will be put off by this book. If they can get past the foreword by Brian McLaren they will need to exercise a significant amount of patience and openness to glean the harvest this book offers. I deeply appreciate the life of Andrew Marin. To me, his life represents a model for kingdom living.

His principles and methods for engaging the gay community are an antidote to the shrill voices of fundamentalism and judgmentalism that seem to dominate most conversations on the subject. For me, the book provides not only answers to how to engage the gay community, it also opened my eyes to, (as McLaren describes) “the judgmental lifestyle”, the “take-take-the-splinter-out if your-brother’s-eye” religiosity that Jesus talked about in the Sermon on the mount that I continually struggle with.

His call is to seek the voice of God in our lives. To that end he suggests: “The way forward with the (gay) community is not a debate on the Bible’s statements about same-sex sexual behavior but a discussion of how to have an intimate, real, conversational relationship with the Father and Judge.”

What he posits for relating to the gay community is in reality what we should be employing as we encounter all the world which stands against God’s reign in our lives.