It's been a while since my last post, which I don't want to make excuses for because it flat out means that I haven't been giving enough time to the Lord daily! But since my last post God has revealed so much to me in all aspects of my life. From my mindset, to how I handle relationships, to weaknesses, but it all boils down to the fact that I've got a lot to learn and I SHOULD give time to him daily...
For this post, I want to give thanks to GOD for his grace, mercy, love, and also knowing that he's in control of my life! Sports are a huge part of my life, and I've learned a lot about life from my experience in playing sports, which means a lot of my analogies or correlations to different thoughts will come from those experiences. I've been reading a book on the biography of Pat Williams, which is an incredible read. (IF you don't know who Pat Williams is look him up right now!) In his book, he talks about his life experiences through his many speeches, career, and how Christ took a hold of his life. I talk about this book because I wanted to share a great quote that he had in his book. In this quote, he's referencing all the aspects of a sporting event, which includes the suspense and build up of the game, to the ups and downs of the game itself, and the results of the game....
"What a great feeling to know how the game ends. I know how the game of life ends. I know that God will accept me at the end of my life because I have placed my trust in Jesus Christ. I know that no matter how bad things get, Jesus will return one day and set everything right. Job hassles, personality clashes, anger, hate, bigotry, violence, crime, political corruption, scandal, economic uncertainty, natural disaster, war- none of these things matter in the final analysis. They are painful, they cause us anxiety and fear, but they are not the end of the story...Jesus is on the way. He'll beat the final buzzer- of that I have no doubt. So I can't lose. I'm on the winning team. That's the source of my confidence and assurance, even in tough times. Is the truth of GOD relevant to the world of sports? No Question. Is the Christian faith an essential part of my life, including my life in the NBA? Absolutely!"
He's an amazing Man of God, and I hope all who get to read this are an encouraged by this quote as much as I was!
Romans 5:3-5
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Lectio Divina
"The secret of concentration is elimination."
- Dr. Howard Hendricks
This is my first blog posting, and a lot of you when you first read this will say, "He's actually writing something that isn't for an assignment or something he has to do!" The answer is yes...I've caught the "bug" to blog my thoughts, so here it goes...
I've been living in Nashville since January doing an internship at D1 Sports Training, and there's a college worship service that I've been going to called Kairos on Tuesday nights at Brentwood Baptist Church. Last week was the start of a 6 week series on sin, and last night's talk really spoke to me. The speaker talked about a pattern that is portrayed in most of our lives, which I never really realized before. The pattern he discussed was how easily our thoughts can control us, and how those thoughts become our desires and how our desires reflect the way we live our lives. This is something that has been on my heart for a while because so many times my pride kicks in and I try to get rid of these sinful thoughts by using my own will power. For me to change this, I believe it all starts with our quiet times, and how much we truly allow God and his word to speak to us in those times.
Jean-Pierre de Caussade once said, "Read quietly, slowly, word for word to enter into the subject more and more with the heart than the mind..." There is a technical word for this kind of reading, "Lectio Divina", which means divine reading. This is a kind of reading in which the mind descends into the heart, and both are drawn into the love and goodness of God. We are endeavoring to go beyond information to formation- to being formed and molded by what we read (Foster & Smith, Devotional Classics).
Rarely does this ever happen to me where I allow God's word to be ingrained in my mind and heart, which in effect those words come alive in how I live my life. In reality, I usually read a verse and think to myself, "Man that's good I should remember that." But within a few mintues after reading it, my mind starts to wander and I forget what I just read or I'm distracted by something around me. Being able to read like this is hard for me to do, but I think if it did happen it would be similar to a scene in the movie For Love of the Game. The scene I'm referring to is when Kevin Costner is on the mound at Yankees Stadium and the crowd noise is starting to get to him, but all of a sudden he says "Clear the Mechanism". After this, Billy Chapel, (Costner's character), is able to block out all the crowd noise & distractions so that he can focus on the hitter at the plate. This is obviously easier said than done because of the "thief" in our lives that has come to steal, kill, and destroy. The "thief" does this by throwing sin at us from all directions, which makes each day a constant battle, but GOD has won the war!!
My challenge to all who read this is for the next time you have a quiet time and you're reading God's word...."Clear the Mechanism"! This won't be easy but when you feel your mind start to wander, pause for a minute to re-focus, and let the words you're reading be ingrained in your heart and mind. Once you allow God's word to be apart of you and you start thinking of ways to glorify him, then those thoughts become desires and those desires turn into actions in your daily lives, which means that God's word has come to life...aka, Lectio Divina!
"Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
Ephesians 6:17
- Dr. Howard Hendricks
This is my first blog posting, and a lot of you when you first read this will say, "He's actually writing something that isn't for an assignment or something he has to do!" The answer is yes...I've caught the "bug" to blog my thoughts, so here it goes...
I've been living in Nashville since January doing an internship at D1 Sports Training, and there's a college worship service that I've been going to called Kairos on Tuesday nights at Brentwood Baptist Church. Last week was the start of a 6 week series on sin, and last night's talk really spoke to me. The speaker talked about a pattern that is portrayed in most of our lives, which I never really realized before. The pattern he discussed was how easily our thoughts can control us, and how those thoughts become our desires and how our desires reflect the way we live our lives. This is something that has been on my heart for a while because so many times my pride kicks in and I try to get rid of these sinful thoughts by using my own will power. For me to change this, I believe it all starts with our quiet times, and how much we truly allow God and his word to speak to us in those times.
Jean-Pierre de Caussade once said, "Read quietly, slowly, word for word to enter into the subject more and more with the heart than the mind..." There is a technical word for this kind of reading, "Lectio Divina", which means divine reading. This is a kind of reading in which the mind descends into the heart, and both are drawn into the love and goodness of God. We are endeavoring to go beyond information to formation- to being formed and molded by what we read (Foster & Smith, Devotional Classics).
Rarely does this ever happen to me where I allow God's word to be ingrained in my mind and heart, which in effect those words come alive in how I live my life. In reality, I usually read a verse and think to myself, "Man that's good I should remember that." But within a few mintues after reading it, my mind starts to wander and I forget what I just read or I'm distracted by something around me. Being able to read like this is hard for me to do, but I think if it did happen it would be similar to a scene in the movie For Love of the Game. The scene I'm referring to is when Kevin Costner is on the mound at Yankees Stadium and the crowd noise is starting to get to him, but all of a sudden he says "Clear the Mechanism". After this, Billy Chapel, (Costner's character), is able to block out all the crowd noise & distractions so that he can focus on the hitter at the plate. This is obviously easier said than done because of the "thief" in our lives that has come to steal, kill, and destroy. The "thief" does this by throwing sin at us from all directions, which makes each day a constant battle, but GOD has won the war!!
My challenge to all who read this is for the next time you have a quiet time and you're reading God's word...."Clear the Mechanism"! This won't be easy but when you feel your mind start to wander, pause for a minute to re-focus, and let the words you're reading be ingrained in your heart and mind. Once you allow God's word to be apart of you and you start thinking of ways to glorify him, then those thoughts become desires and those desires turn into actions in your daily lives, which means that God's word has come to life...aka, Lectio Divina!
"Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
Ephesians 6:17
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