Power in Weakness

If you've known me for any length of time at all, or have read only a small snippet of my writings, you know that I love the ocean.  I could go on and on about it, in fact.  Just recently I found a book belonging to my step-dad, Dale, called "Sea Edge," and every chapter contains a different analogy relating the ocean to spiritual realities.  This author, though he looks a bit like Mr. Rogers and has a hat strangely akin to that of Crocodile Dundy on the back cover of his book, obviously has lived inside my brain.  What you might not know about me, however, is that I've wrestled with depression on and off throughout my adult life.  That's because I don't talk about it very much.  Oh, every once in awhile I will ask a close friend for prayer and disclose these kind of things, but I hate the stigma that the word "depression" brings, so I avoid living under it or being labeled by it.  I also have a strong will, and I do my best to "choose" a...

Recently I put a Kodak picture on the dashboard of my car.  On the back of the picture it says in simple red font, "Jun. 1989." Now, I have never been the kind of person that puts pictures on my dashboard - not any girlfriend that I can remember, and certainly not any sports teams, bands, models, or "selfies."  But I found this treasure the other day at my little brother's new house, and something about it absolutely transfixes me.  This blog entry is my attempt to explain why. This "throwback" (25 years back!) snugly contains all five members of my family in front of the Pacific Ocean - probably Pismo Beach.  My Dad is wearing his typical tight black jacket and is comfortably holding my 2 year-old little brother, who is looking at the camera with wide-eyed shock.  My Mom is posing next to my Dad with a look of serene confidence, and her arm is around my freckled older brother.  I am on the outskirts of the family, leaning into my older brother, wi...

It's not often that a trip to the dentist is epic, but this one was. Not because I was put under the knife, or paid thousands of dollars, but because the trip itself turned out to be emblematic of my life right now.  It was the last straw, so to speak; the final memo from God to Glenn, letting me know that there was a real and important message being conveyed that shouldn't be ignored. But the memos began much earlier than the dentist appointment. A little less than a month ago, the discipleship school at which I work participated in a healing ministry called "plumb line."  Plumb line is, in essence, an inner healing ministry.  We do the work of introspection, identifying "bricks" that make up the "walls of our heart," representing lies we have believed since childhood that have contributed to the brokenness in our personalities. I've gone through it several times since I first attended the school, so I can't say I expected my socks...

The next four chapters of 1 Corinthians contain some of the most controversial passages in the Bible - no joke.  I could spend a lot of time and cyberspace on this blog trying to give my opinions and interpretations of the sections concerning women in ministry and the spiritual gifts.  In fact, I would rather enjoy that.  I think it certainly matters what we believe about these issues.  However, I also think that there is a definite reason that one of the Bible's most eloquent and beautiful passages on love is found sandwiched between these infamous chapters of long-standing debate.  Love, the Scriptures are telling us, is the key.  What would we believe about women in ministry if love guided our theology?  A love for Jesus and His Truth, first and foremost, but also a love and honor for women themselves and the unique and powerful gifts they carry?  I wonder if we would so easily relegate them to the background of church government with our p...

Break's over and we're heading back into our study of 1 Corinthians.  Where did we leave off?  Oh, yes - the gifts of both marriage and singleness, and the current tendency of the western church to unduly exalt one over the other.  Chapter 8 transitions into another issue that has been raised by the Corinthians via letter, and Paul begins to address it.  Here's the general idea. In that time period in Corinth, there were pagan temples on practically every corner.  These temples housed idolatrous feasts that were filled with unholy activities.  However, they also served as meeting places for different clubs and private dinners (like a convention center in our day).  The Christians there were confused as to what was "allowed" in relation to these temples.  Obviously it wouldn't please God to participate in the debauchery and idol worship of a pagan feast.  But what if they were invited to a dinner party in one of those temples?  Or wha...

This may be the most theologically imprecise blog I've written in awhile (or ever), so for the Bible prudes out there, please forgive me ahead of time.  I want to take a break from the Corinthians notes to share my quiet time from this morning with you.  Most days I will just jump into the Word, praying as I go, looking for new insights, waiting for God's presence, and listening to His voice.  But today I felt a fresh determination to hear from God, not just gain a new Scriptural insight, so I spent some time waiting on Him before I even jumped into the text.  The result was unexpected.  My time with God was...pretty dang fun.  Now, God and I do have a special connection through laughter.  Those of you who know my testimony from the past few years know how true, how embarrassingly and incredibly true that is.  He likes to make me laugh.  Sometimes it seems He'd rather do that than share some mind-blowing piece of wisdom with me.  Thi...

Since I'm writing this blog primarily for Foundations students at Event Force, I want to start off by sharing a scribbled note from my own personal study Bible from when I was a student at the school myself years ago.  It's next to 1 Corinthians 7:22 - "For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freedman."  I wrote the following next to that verse: "Remember when you do event force - you are the Lord's freedman!"  It's been awhile since I have actually worked an Event Force, but apparently the last time I did, it was pretty easy for me to liken myself to the "slaves" of Paul's day.  So, Event Force slaves, take heart - in your hearts you are still free!  They may give you long hours on your feet, and you may question your salvation as you find yourself annoyed with everyone around you, but just remember that you are free.  ...At least that's what I told myself. On my last blog, we left off at the end of chapt...