Some reader thoughts today...

I am so happy that I get to read again! I've been completely focused on research and writing for the last 9 months or so. I've been reading A LOT, but its been a lot of "hafta" reading. (I'm not complaining, because the "hafta" has a huge measure of "wanna" in there.)

But now I get to read whatever I want to read. This is a great thing since I work part-time in a bookstore, and can borrow books by the armload as long as I handle them carefully and bring them back quickly and in pristine condition. I recently read Pete Grieg and Andy Freeman's Punk Monk - a book about the 24-7 prayer movement in Europe, and living a creative, monastic, dedicated life. Fantastic - and challenging. Convicting. Wooing.

Because I've been really, really sick the last two weeks, I also got a chance to read 3 pulp fiction books I was handed for free when I went to that CBA dealie in Indianapolis a few months ago. I am not a fiction person, but when you're sick, pulp fiction seems right. I read one of the other books I was given a few weeks ago while at McDonalds with grandson Gabriel, and hated it so much I actually threw it away. One running gag in the book featured Donny Osmond, OK? (I have never, ever, ever thrown a book away before.)

It took a little self-talk to ramp up for more fiction after that horrible reading experience, but I was too sick for Big Thoughts. The good news is that I didn't throw any other books away. But with one of them, I actually contemplated it briefly.

Today I checked out Phil Yancey's Prayer, Mark Buchanan's Hidden In Plain Sight...and a Karen Kingsbury book. The first two are favorite authors of mine. And I'm curious about Karen Kingsbury. She cranks out books really fast, and people seem to like them, so I'll try to suspend my "no fiction" rule a little longer.

Since I'm still on antibiotics, I guess I can.

P.S. about books: I'll include this offer on this blog, since I'm posting it in other places as well, and included it in my newsletter. I bet you know someone going through some tough trials right now.(That "someone" might even be you.)I'd love to encourage a few of those people with the gift of a signed set of my books:Parablelife: Living the stories Jesus told in real time and Uprooted: Growing a Parable Life from the inside out. The first three of you who get back to me at michelle@theparablelife.com with the name and address of a person in need of a little encouragement will be able to gift your friend (or yourself) with signed copies of the books.

Mom moment

Jacob, 20, holding a copy of a screenprinted illustration he's selling. He's an art machine.

He sees the world in a completely different way. Love it. Love him.

Contact me if you want to know how to own your own copy.

Why should the devil have all the good music?

This was the music of Christian counter-culture, circa 1970's








This music INFURIATED a lot of people back in the day. Christians singing pop or rock? Larry Norman (on the left) penned the immortal words "Why should the devil have all the good music"? in response to the scathing criticism from most in the mainstream church to his music: the sounds of rock `n roll married to songs about (and to) Jesus.

Last night, while watching American Idol, I was struck by how different things are today.











Jordin Sparks, a Christian, sang a song penned by Christian recording artist Scott Krippanye (and a pastor friend of his). The song, "This is my now", won the American Idol songwriting competition. Jordin's performance of this song probably cinched the competition for her.

From Larry Norman to Jordin Sparks. It's enough to give a person a case of whiplash.

We've gone mainstream. The jury is still out about whether this is a good development.

Think on these things...

Is the glass half-empty or half-full? My own tendency is to see the glass as half-empty, and suspect that the other half full of some kind of odorless, tastelss clear toxic chemical.

Some pretty serious things have happened in the last few days:

- A freakish series of events in the last week may (?) have deep-sixed the publication of the book manuscript I just finished.

- My husband was in a car accident. The other person involved in the accident has already retained a lawyer.

- One of my children has made a very hurtful, painful choice that reads like rejection to me.

- Our church situation continues to be a source of sorrow and dysfunction, not community. We are weary at constantly grubbing around for ad hoc community. It's better than nothin', but it ain't what we know it should be.

Yes, it could always be worse. All of it could be a heckuva lot worse. No one is hurt (my husband is just fine - not even a sore neck) or sick or in jail or in imminent danger. But those sorts of comparisons don't really help at all. "It could always be worse", the words of the half-full-glass people, throw circumstances into some sort of a comparison mode. Those comparisons actually tend to make people feel like their tsuris (Yiddish for troubles) shouldn't matter. But tsuris happens. And stuffing them, or ignoring them, or saying that things could be much worse tends to make me feel much worse because I start to feel like a gigantic wimp.

When I have attempted to count my blessings as a way to assuage my woes, I grit my teeth, start listing them, and then deteriorate into a puddle of self-pity.

You know what actually seems to change me?

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." - Philippians 4:8

The Greek word for "think" here is logizomai. It carries the sense of numbering, or accounting for, gathering. Counting my blessings doesn't work. But "counting Him" - numbering the Immeasurable, pondering all that He is: true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy - this changes me. Centers me. Shelters me. Aims my life away from me...and this...toward Him. He is wonderful, and worthy of every praise I can offer Him. (Somehow, I wonder if the praise that rises to Him when things aren't so good smells different to Him...?)

The glass is empty - poured out as an offering. The glass is full - overflowing.

A gigantic milestone

My husband Bill began college in 1973 at Elmhurst. After a year there, he transferred to Trinity College. He loved Trinity, but had to drop out after three semesters there because of a serious accident that left him in the hospital for a month.

After we got married in 1979, he realized that his lack of a degree was holding him back from advancing in his Information Systems career. Elmhurst had recently started an adult degree completion program, so he started their program in 1982. It took him several more years to finish up some gen ed credits, but he received his Bachelor of Science in Business from Elmhurst in 1990.

But the desire to obtain a theological education never went away. In 1999, he tentatively took his first class at the Trinity extension site in Milwaukee. There was only the one Master's degree option available through those extension sites at the time - the 48-credit hour Master of Arts in Religion (most Masters' programs are 32-36 hours including the thesis; the M.A.R. is a 48 credit hour endeavor). Bill loved the classes (most of `em, anyway) and kept taking classes, one at a time while working full-time, parenting three teens, and being involved in church leadership. We relocated back to IL in 2004, and he finished the degree here.

He completed all of his degree work in December `06, and grumbled a bit about walking in the ceremony in May, but the smile on his face yesterday was the smile of a man who'd achieved a gigantic milestone in his life. He's a gifted leader and teacher, and wants so much to be used by God. I'm so proud of him!

Rest in piece

Dan at Cerulean Sanctum posted once again about the bizzy-bizzy nature of the Christian subculture. It's a theme he's tackled again and again, and I hope he keeps at it. It reminded me of another post I'd read a couple of months ago at the Christianity Today Gifted For Leadership blog about how easy it is for well-meaning, gifted people to slowly get sucked out of the rhythms of our own lives with God because we're trying to serve Him.

It occurs to me that many of us use our time the same way we use credit cards - spending beyond what's in our budgeting, buying what we don't need and can't satisfy, and hoping we'll be able to pay off the debt...er...uh...you know...sometime.

If ever I've heard a "stewardship" sermon that touches on the topic of time (very, very rarely), it usually has something to do with giving time to the church. Being busy. In over 30 years of church life, I have never heard a sermon about the sabbath. Have you?

I am grateful for the space to really listen to the Word of God. To pray. To listen to the sound of my grandson's voice. In a little flourish of irony, Gabriel is sitting next to my husband right now, singing the jingle to a credit card commercial.

**********

I visited WI yesterday for the first time since last summer. Had a great visit with my compadre and pray-on-the-phone-together-every-Wednesday-morning sister Meg. Got to visit with a wonderful semi-retired pastor and his razor sharp wife. And saw my friend Mary, who stood by us when so many others abandoned us during a particularly brutal church implosion.

The day was filled with spring sunlight, deep God-conversation and prayer. Even though it was Wednesday, it was a sabbath. Rest. Creation. Re-creation in conversation.

I could almost hear Him gently breathing.