A digital commonplace for a Regular Guy called Charlie Pharis
From Keillor’s The Book of Guys…
In America, you don’t have to know what you’re doing in order to do what you’re doing. You become a holy man by learning to act holy. The furrowed brow, the shambling gait, the vacuous modesty, the weird verbless speech, and Abbot Bob has mastered the act beautifully, but one look in his eyes tells you that nobody is home, he is a vacant shrine. (p.11)
Oh, a couple of other New Spring-related items from my Snowy Sunday…
Be someone whose private passion for God out steps their public passion.
Great post about keeping one’s mouth shut by Steven Furtick…
Great post on Hell – and our response as Jesus-apprentices – from the one, the only Dan Kimball…
This from yesterday’s Literature Ministries International’s daily A.W. Tozer devotional, Insight for Leaders…
It may surprise you that Aldous Huxley, often a critic of evangelical Christianity, has been quoted as saying: “My kingdom go is the necessary corollary to Thy kingdom come.”…
Certainly His kingdom can never be realized in my life until my own selfish kingdom is deposed. It is when I resign, when I am no longer king of my domain that Jesus Christ will become king of my life.
Ouch…
Overheard in a mall store yesterday…
Isn’t it amazing that the pastors who make such a big deal about ‘reaching manly men’ all dress like gay rock stars?
Too funny…
As both of you loyal readers know, I serve a small traditional church as pastor. I just finished up a message series yesterday about our mission as believers. The final talk was a challenge to be “messengers of hope” in our neighborhoods and our city. Included in the talk was this statement…
You are not the hope of your neighbors. You are not the hope of our city, our county, our state, our nation, or our world. That job is already filled! Jesus – and only Jesus – is the hope!
I told our folks I hoped that would take some of the pressure off their lives. But then I said I wanted to put a little bit of it back on: The only way some folks in our neighborhoods, our city, our county, our state, our nation, and our planet will ever find the real Hope is if we start being messengers of hope ourselves.
Just saw this great quote from Darrin Patrick’s Catalyst talk on preaching, via Jay Hardwick’s blog…
In the gospel, we learn that we’re bigger sinners than we thought and that Jesus is a bigger Savior than we thought.
Good stuff! Thanks, Jay!
Love him or hate him, you’ve gotta admit it…Ted Turner speaks what’s on his mind…
The word “impossible” does not exist for me. I’ve got a lot of signal flags in my flag bag, but there’s not a white one in there. I’m gonna keep fighting until the day I die, and I might keep on fighting afterward – depending on where I am.
And this gem…
I’ve already decided what I want on my tombstone: I HAVE NOTHING MORE TO SAY.
Michael Jordan on his intensity…
I never took a day off. If I took a day off, then Scottie was going to take a day off. And then Horace. The next thing you know, the whole scope of what we’re trying to do is being weakened. I never took a shortcut, and I never wanted anyone else to take a shortcut. If that meant someone interpreted me as a tyrant, I’m pretty sure they’re appreciative now.