A spiritual "timeout"

I don't know about you but the word "discipline" reminds me of all the times I got in trouble as a kid. My parents were quick to discipline me or else I would head in the wrong direction in some aspect of my life. In short, the word "discipline" just seems to have a bad connotation in my mind.

A number of months back everyone in our small group took a spiritual inventory. The idea is that if we look at our inventories together it will give us a snapshot of our group's strengths and weaknesses. One of the categories was "spiritual discipline." Out of the 9 or 10 categories available can you guess where spiritual discipline ranked in our group? Go ahead, take a wild stab in the dark... If you guessed DEAD LAST move ahead 2 spaces. We all got a good chuckle out of it and realized it is an area of our lives we could work on together.

A couple quarters ago in VLI we discussed spiritual disciplines. How and why do we, as Christians, discipline ourselves. Spiritual disciplines are activited we intentionally engage in to draw closer to God. Things that often don't come easy to us but with time, practice, and perseverance become a natural part of us. The main thing is that we must act in response to what the Holy Spirit has shown us we should do. Our efforts without God's direction usually fall flat on their faces. So, I could decide I'm going to eat a ridiculous amount of Reese's Peanut Butter cups for the glory of God but I'm not so sure that's what God is asking of me... at least not at this point. Maybe later. Fasting, prayer, mediatation, solitude, and silence are just a few examples of spiritual disciplines. So, over the next few weeks we'll continue to delve into the world of spiritual discipline.

What struck me as funny is that people, artists, call their specific field of interest their "discipline." Interesting. That little revelation made me see spiritual discipline in a different light. A light which in no way resembled my mom pulling a large pink comb out of her enormous "mom" purse and threatening to smack my legs if I didn't sit still in the pew... hypothetically speaking of course.

Quote #001

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."

-Scott Adams

Jeg kan ikke forstor

Vineyard Columbus' own Michael Hansen is in Scandinavia with a worship team for a short term mission trip and conference. They'll spend time in Stockholm and Copenhagen. Brian Peat is keeping an up-to-date blog of the events while they are there.

http://web.mac.com/brianpeat/iWeb/Scandinavia/Welcome.html

Carz

Recently, our car started making a squeeling / screeching sound whenever you started the car cold. If I had to describe the sound it was like... like... a teradyctal dying from a t-rex wound... I have no idea where that came from. Anyway, it didn't sound good but went away quickly. Gradually, it took longer and longer for that sound to go away. I found myself pulling up at a stoplight where people were waiting to cross the street and then... it would start. I tensed and looked around as if to not know where the sound was coming from. First, you could just faintly hear it but the car seemed to know exactly when to get louder. As people crossed the street in front of the car, it got louder. Parents began pulling children close to their side and I'm not even sure the kids belonged to the adults, business men cringed, even homeless turned running in fear.

Finally, driving down the interstate the car decided to let everyone know that it needed attention by relentlessly screaming. It was a car version of a temper tantrum or worse, the car was like a child who had been kidnapped trying to get the attention of other cars nearby. So, we took the car in to get serviced which never seems to be a pleasant visit. Sometimes I think cars have access to their owner's bank account. They know the precise moment your account is being stretched to the limit... and then they strike.

Based off the movies I watched in the 80's, shouldn't we all be able to teleport by now?

Relevant Magazine & Slam Poetry

I just stumbled upon this article at relevantmagazine.com called "My first attempt at Slam Poetry." This was written Jessica Find who said she performed this poem only once in Columbus, Ohio. The poem is about "the struggles women feel because of their femininity."

Read on...
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/pc_article.php?id=7130