I’ve started a new reading regimen for my devotional routine. It entails reading a chapter a day from five books. So this is what I am currently reading.
Bible: The book of Jeremiah
Third Dawn by Bodie and Brock Thoene
Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit By R. A. Torrey
I guess the interesting thing is that several of these are fiction. Christian Fiction and Inspirational Fiction, but nonetheless fiction. One is more Theology. Then the other is the Bible. But I was talking to my friend, Mark, who asked why I was reading fiction as part of my daily devotions.
So, Can Fiction be Devotional?
My answer is obviously yes. Jesus used parables (stories) to illustrate the concepts of the word of God. One of my personal greatest joys in life is reading fiction. So doing something I really enjoy, not just like, is in a sense a part of my devotional life. Donald Miller in Blue Like Jazz actually illustrates this point in my reading today somewhere in chapter three. He relates that story resonates with the Human condition because we are in a story. We have a setting, a place where we live. We have other characters, people we know, work with and play with, dislike and love. There is a conflict, that fact that we are a fallen creation of God and He is working to redeem us. The climax is the ultimate decision that we must make. The resolution is that we can be restored or that God is indeed just.
Fiction also causes us to think outside ourselves. One of my favorite books was written by author Stephen Lawhead, called Byzantium. He relates a story of Aidan, a monk chosen to go on pilgrimage. A journey that he sees in a dream will ultimately lead to his death. He goes and faces all kinds of different situations. The monks are attacked by Sea Wolves (danish pirates) and he is made a slave. He endures slavery, is freed, then is attacked by Arabs and falls in love with a Arabian princess only to lose her when he abandons his faith. He frees his fellow monks from being slaves in the silver mines and ultimately finishes his quest to appear before the emperor of Rome to find that his pilgrimage was in vain and that Rome is full of spies, speculation and Roman turmoil. He eventually returns back to the monastery a broken man, without his faith. But we find out that it was not all in vain. The Danish Sea Wolves who attacked him and his friends have become friends and followers of the faith Aidan once boldly proclaimed while a slave with them. He returns to where he once was a slave to become a priest, and eventually dies in Byzantium as a Bishop of the church fulfilling the dream that he would die there. But he dies a content old man rather than a victim of a red martyrdom, a pilgrimage gone awry.
I think that the greatest benefit of fiction for my spiritual life is that in fiction I can live a life of someone else and learn the thoughts behind decisions that end for the good or the bad. In doing so, I gain a greater understanding of my own motives and begin to see the story that exists underneath the surface of my own life and the greater story that I too am a part of.
Okay, I’ve seen some people who were really good at jumping rope. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a lot of people who were good at jumping rope doing it at the same time to music in a choreographed dance routine. If you aren’t hooked in the first minute, wait another and keep watching. This is pretty impressive.
I am working today on a new wordpress theme for churches and ministries. There’s really not too much to see just yet, lots of editing of css. I will say that it’s more graphically oriented than many of my projects… I may actually be able to release it this afternoon if I keep at it. Who knows? Between a baby and a puppy, I might get something done.
I used be called creative. It’s when I started realizing it myself that I failed to meet the expectations of myself to be truly creative. I began to look at what was marketable, or “in” and failed to recognize that creativity springs from within rather than from outside influences. I began to see everything I did as with some kind of outside perspective. I became self-conscious. In doing so, I became bland and uncreative.
Getting back to the root of your own creativity is hard. Culture says “Here do this… this will be profitable for you” Read a book on painting rather than paint. Knowledge rather than Experience has become the problem with creativity.
You have to learn to be you with all your flaws and inhibitions. The only people who should have a problem with it are those who are so inhibited themselves that they care more about what others think than who they are.
I spent the evening tweaking decloned to add a few new features and set it up more professionally than it has been in the past. Natively, it is set up to use several different plugins, but I may go ahead and release it into the public if there is enough interest.
I originally based the theme off of the Gluttony Theme by wpdesigner but it got a bit more altered in my take of it. The theme has 6 different widget locations… including the logo, the header ad placement, the three featured areas as well as the sidebar. I may add some to the footer as well. We’ll see…
Anyway, it was inspired by Hugh’s new theme (http://www.gapingvoid.com) after David Hayward told me about how he liked it and possibly wanted something like it for nakedpastor.
I’ve been giving a lot of thought of going back to pro blogging here on decloned. It’s been awhile since I considered blogging on that level again. I guess I always kept this little blog running to keep me sane. Anyway, stay tuned… Things may get interesting around here.
Today has been an interesting day. I helped by dad with a recreation of the ten commandments for a VBS thing he is going to be in this coming week.
First off, stone tile was difficult to find in a stone tablet size. We bought the big 16-1/16th” tile and cut it in half. Oh no, we didn’t have a saw with a diamond blade to cut it with. I scored it with my dremel and broke it over a railroad tie to get the thing equally in half. Then we had to round the tops, so it looks like Charlton Heston stepped out of the “Ten Commandments” movie and handed us his prop.
Then, of course, someone wanted the letters carved into the tile. Tile isn’t meant for carving into. We figured that out trying to break it in half. I shouldn’t have even asked the dreaded question “What font do you want to use?”
Why did he have to choose a ‘Gothic Blackletter’ font?
We finally decided to recreate the Gothic font using charcoal and a do-it-yourself transfer paper (a piece of paper printed with the exact format on the front and charcoal over the back of the lettering on the reverse side). We bought and tried a t-shirt transfer sheet first, but that did not work at all. Apparently, t-shirt transfers only work on… well, t-shirts rather than tile.
So far it’s looking pretty good. We only have one tablet finished so far. We’ll do the other one tomorrow. I sent it home with my dad for homework. Maybe then, I’ll remember to take a picture of them to upload.
This is the season where lots of people have given up different things. Lent. The 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter has often been celebrated thus. It’s now also spring which means spring cleaning. I am by nature a collector. Not really anything in particular, but little odds and ends. It drives Becca nuts on occassion.
So letting go of things is hard.
For Becca, it’s letting go of shoes.
Maybe it’s not the shoes or the “little plastic peice that used to go to that one thing that doesn’t work anymore” that is the problem. Maybe it’s the addiction to ownership that is the problem. We don’t let go because it’s ours. Like Gollum in Lord of The Rings. “My Precious”.
Maybe our “stuff” isn’t quite so precious afterall. Maybe in getting rid of the clutter our creativity will flourish anew.
3 – Go to Flickr’s “explore the last seven days” area at http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover. The titles of the images on this page are your song names where you can also give image credit for the image used.
5 - Post it as a note to Facebook, twitter or whatever network you useand tag the friends you want to join in, or blog it and leave a link in your comments.
6. – Link back to the person who tagged you (it’s just polite).
I recently shared with a friend of mine who is a pastor a vision I have for bringing portrait photography into their ministry as an innovative way of reaching out to our community.
My background and calling is full-time ministry. Right now, it’s hard to make that happen. Most churches are having just as tough of a time making ends meet as individuals are. Personally, I was one of the pastors who due to financial cuts suffered the brunt of a churches financial crises. Since I enjoyed photography, I looked for a job doing photography. If I had had the monetary support and a place to work, I would probably own my own studio at this point and be doing photography on my own. I currently work for Olan Mills and volunteer at my church.
My recent vision for combining photography and ministry was a bit of a surprise even to me. I have customers come in each and every day at Olan Mills with Newborns, or 1 year olds. I even once had an elderly lady come in and buy one portrait just so that her family could have something to display at her funeral.
Photography is one of those things where we see a large number of people come in with very open hearts and minds to what God might be saying to them. They are celebrating a birth, or their family, or just a memory… leaving a legacy.
At a commercial photography studio it’s often hard to witness when you know that at the end of the session, you are going to be trying to sell them a package, even if they can’t afford it. Serve God or money, right?
But the church has a huge opportunity here. I’ve pitched it to my church and have some support for making it happen, now I just need the means to get the equipment to make it a reality.
image credit – Becca and Me with our little one, Aidan
Maybe then, I’ll remember to take a picture of them to upload.
This is the season where lots of people have given up different things. Lent. The 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter has often been celebrated thus. It’s now also spring which means spring cleaning. I am by nature a collector. Not really anything in particular, but little odds and ends. It drives Becca nuts on occassion.
Check it out. Aust Severn Powerline Crossing has just released it’s 8th consecutive album.
I recently shared with a friend of mine who is a pastor a vision I have for bringing portrait photography into their ministry as an innovative way of reaching out to our community.