the fog

fogs seem to go on forever. sometimes it’s nearly impossible to see one foot in front of you, and you certainly can’t see a destination on the horizon. that pretty much sums up where I have been over the last 2 weeks.

it seems that i have allowed responsibilities (failed and forthcoming) to overwhelm me.

this may come as a result of the fact that i am a (self-proclaimed) dreamer (jen would probably affirm this). i spend a lot of time with my head in the clouds, envisioning where we will be someday down the road, but it seems that I live my day to day life with zero visibility. i spend so much time thinking about how things should be or how I could help make things better, that i neglect the little things that would allow me to faithfully lead my family.

my prayer, as of late, has been that God will direct me to be more focused on what’s right in front of me here and now. i don’t want to have my head in the clouds. i want to be able to relate to people and to deal with issues that are in my line of sight, rather than how to solve climate change.

this revelation does not insinuate that i will no longer be thinking about the big picture. i don’t think i can help that. i've just come to realize that i can’t possibly be a light in the darkness to anyone else if i can’t see two feet in front of me.

-dave-

yoder quotes

one of the books i read during my 40 day media fast was the original revolution by john howard yoder, a collection of essays discussing the topic of christian pacifism. **everyone must read this book**

i wrote down some of my favorite quotes and thought i'd share them with the blogosphere. enjoy...

"jesus will therefore be describing a morality of repentance or of conversion; not a prescription of what Every Man can and should do to be happy; not a meditation on how best to guide society, but a description of how a person behaves whose life has been transformed by meeting jesus."

"this (christian pacifism) is not a set of moral standards to be posed on everyone or on the unconvinced."

"the ethics of discipleship is not guided by the goals it seeks to reach, but by the Lord it seeks to reflect."

"what jesus meant by fulfillment was thus a quite literal filling full, a carrying on to full accomplishment of the intent of the earlier moral guides."

"nonresistance is right, in the deepest sense, not because it works, but because it anticipates the triumph of the lamb that was slain."

"here we must point out that this attitude, leaving evil free to be evil, leaving the sinner free to separate himself from God and sin against man, is a part of the nature of agape itself, as revealed already in creation."

"God's love begins right at the point where he permits sin against himself and against man, without crushing the rebel under his own rebellion."

regarding the new covenant..."once all men are seen as potential partakers of the covenant, then the outside can no longer be perceived as less than human or as an object for sacrificing."

read the book for yourself. it's brilliant.

-dave-