The Shack

I just got done reading The Shack. I start two nights ago but read the bulk of it through the better part of today. I have never wept so many times reading a book. I feel like I should communicate that I am a crier. There. I admit it. I own it. It only takes a moment in a movie, a story told with redemption, or a well written song that shines a light on a place inside of me I have never seen. I cry.

This book takes some liberties with painting the trinity with the father as a black woman and the Spirit as a super interesting Asian woman. Jesus kind of played himself in this story as a Middle Eastern Jewish Man. Don't let the liberties scare you. The story of redemption that gets played out in this book is simply beautiful and the truth and love behind the character of God resonated so deeply with me.

It is such a worthy read.

Write About Jesus

I got back this last Saturday night from a weekend retreat called Write About Jesus. Sue Smith, the woman I wrote "Everything to Me" with started this retreat about 8 years ago up in St Louis and I have been up there as a "Clinician"(teacher) 3 out of the past 8 years. It is a weekend for people who love songwriting to gather together and connect with each other and learn about the craft of songwriting and some of the life-stuff that goes along with being creative. There is a competition during the weekend and the 120 or so registrants enter it and there is one winner at the end of the weekend. I kind of feel like it's purpose is less about winning and more about asking each person to write the best song they know how and to come and learn how to make it better and themselves better in the process. The way that gets played out is that people submit the song and then everyone gets split up into groups of about ten. Then two of us teachers will listen and critique each song in front of the group so that everyone can learn from each other's critique.

I was talking to someone before this trip about not caring so much about the song they were handing me to critique but more so about how it would affect the next 30 songs that would come out of them. When I mentioned this to Sue she liked the idea of communicating about expectations. She came up with a title of a class for me to teach called Holy Tension: Your Ambition and God's Sovereignty. When she sent me that title, I thought, "what a great name" and then the next thought was, "oh crap...how do I teach that??!!".

Sue had the wisdom to pair me up with Dave Clark, a guy I have so much respect for. He has been writing songs professionally for over 30 years and is truly gifted at it. The lens that God has given him to look through is really inspiring.

When the class came along, the room we were having it in filled quickly and fit more people than I thought it would. When we started, I told the class that I was scared to death because of that title and was nervous about what to say but once we settled in, truth started coming out in a really organic way.

We talked about the good and bad sides of ambition and that God truly has a plan for each of us and for our songs. Looking back, the hour seemed Holy to me. Truth was communicated in love. The Lord guided what we said in an organic way that seemed to be encouraging even to me. Dave told stories about the faithfulness of God that brought tears to my eyes.

If you love God and are an aspiring writer, Write About Jesus is a great weekend to put on your calendar.

Great job Sue!

Apologies...

I know this is so cliche but...sorry about the lack of posts recently. I've honestly been uncommitted to this for a while. I kind of knew this would happen when I started but because I was excited about it, I had no idea when the apathy would officially kick in. I don't want to lead you on as a reader but from the writer, all I want to ask is...Can we hug?

The Fixer

As a kid, I used to love to watch Super Friends on Saturday mornings. Even as I am typing this, I am hearing in my head, "Meanwhile, back at the hall of justice". I always thought it would be pretty amazing to be Superman just for the ability to be able to fly but I am reconsidering that power.

I was talking with my Sarah on the way home from church today about what Super-Hero power we would like to have. She said she would like to have the power to know how people need to be loved. Given the last few days with there being a strain on a relationship, I told he that I would love to be "The Fixer". I love the idea of fixing things but I am horrible at it. I love the idea of being able to fix the problem with my car's front wheel(making some strange noise). I love the idea of being able to fix a hole in the drywall. I just have no idea of where to start.

This mentality of wanting to fix things crosses over into relationships. When someone has a problem, I want to fix it and move on. Sometimes I feel equipped to fix whatever problem someone has and sometimes I have no idea. When I feel like I can help, I usually just pragmatically give my thoughts on how to fix it and step in to try to control it's outcome. I am starting to see the value in patience in instances where I start to put on the "Fixer" cape.

Maturity is slowly setting in and I am fighting it ever step of the way. Maturity is telling me that God is in control and I am not. Maturity is telling me to let things play out and allow people to make mistakes. It's messy but it allows God to fix things in His time and the way He wants to. I am continually needing to be reminded of the eternal value of staying present to the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to guide me in conversations. It's not my responsibility to fix. It's my responsibility to Love and allow Him to show me what that looks like in any given situation.

Love is telling me to put the cape down.