RE-construction... Long-term project

Susie shared the news with us this morning that Lauren told her that Carlos Griego now claims he is no longer a Christian.  It wasn't a huge surprise.  Carlos went through a whole lot through the Redemption experinece.  Susie said she thinks he processed the experience in a isolated way rather than having a community of believers around him to process it.  That makes sense.  I think that could have made a huge difference.   However, when you take a literal view of the Bible, then you try to think critically about whether or not it is true, you're definitely going to run into some challenging truths.   A few of these truths are heaven, hell, and demons.  At least this is what Elijah expressed this morning with some measure of frutration with these traditional beliefs held by the church.  One argument he used is that the Israelites did not have the concept of an afterlife.  Rather they held the notion that once you die that is th...

 Recently I hear the analogy of how we must go into the valley on our jouney to deep, close relationship to God.  That we must go to the emotion depths and face our shame and fears and hurts before we can enjoy an intimate relationship with God.  It's an analogy that makes a lot of sense.   However, there is another analogy that is similar yet very different.  It is the image of Christ as the bridge that connects God and man because of the separation we have from God because of our sin.  The bridge symbolized the work Christ did on the Cross for man to restore us to right relationship with God.  We must accept this gift to be able to cross the gulf to get to God.   The second image is a direct path to God, requiring us to give up nothing short of our life, yet the work is a mere decision to follow him.  The first image requires the hard word, and the long work, of working through the hurts of our lives.   While the two are...

 1.  2. 3. Silence 4. Time witih Jesus I have been attending church leadership meetings.  I'm not sure exactly why I am part of the group.  I know why Susie would be part of the group.  They have been life giving.  We are going through the book and workbook from Emotionally Healthy Discipleship.  It's great.  The author talks about 4 aspects of a emotionally healthy spirituality.   I guess the reason why i'm writing about this is because I have been spending time in silence and I have been (a little bit) talking with Jesus throughout the day.  More like acknowledging Jesus and his teaching throughout the day.  But it is a very different mindset toward God than what I have had for some time on a consistent basis.   Another practice that I have been attending to in a small part is memorizing and meditating on the Psalms.  The emotional outpouring of the authors is something I can tap into and search my own emotions...