Organic Minimal Techno

Happy Memorial Day!

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about resolutions… Jonathan Edwards got me started on this with his 70 resolutions he’d set for himself that he read over weekly. I think they’re worth a read, more than once for help developing a personal list of resolutions.

Edwards has inspired me to look into the resolutions of other men of God, which lead me to find 10 Resolutions for Mental Health (one of my favorite articles I’ve ever read) and 20 Resolutions on Taming the Tongue.

Resolutions are thought of as something to make at the beginning of the year–but what if we set them (or added to them) every season? every month? every week? every day? What would happen?

Currently, I’m praying through the development of my own “resolution” list, something less abstract and more concrete.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. 14 But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. 15 But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, 16 saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.”18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
-Acts 4:13-20

Interesting, John and Peter, who were uneducated in the eyes of the religious leaders, seem to be the only ones who actually care about what God wants. Where did they learn that? The life and example of their Savior, “they had been with Jesus.” These religious leaders appear so self-consumed here that they’ve completely lost sight of why they’re even in power in the first place.

It is possible though, to fall into the same trap as the religious leaders:

• To have power and cling to that power so tightly over the God that gives it
• The desire to please “so-and-so” without considering whether or not God is pleased
• Not being completely honest because of fear of consequences over the fear of God
• Ignorance of what God is actually doing because we want Him to do something else

To follow the same Jesus John and Peter had been with is to stop making idols of people, power, privilege, and perceptions; but instead to worship God freely and boldly.

Nothing can ever — no, not ever! — separate us from the Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love of God he showed us in Jesus!

From the Jesus Storybook Bible

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
-Acts 17:11

Don’t just listen to someone else, read the Bible for yourself… every day!

So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
-James 3:5-8

Wow, for such a “small member,” the tongue is capable of a lot. It almost seems like we’re hopeless, doomed to be controlled by this “small member” we call the tongue. What we learn in v.9 is that it is not only a problem for us, but for the world when “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.” … “these things ought not to be so.” James says in v.10.

Indeed, the tongue is a destroyer. How do we tame this defiled beast that erodes away our life?

And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
-Acts 2:3-4

It’s interesting that the first thing that happens when the Holy Spirit comes on the Day of Pentecost is He purifies the tongue. The contrast here is that James speaks of all of the evil things the tongue is capable of, the fire that destroys; while Luke records in the book of Acts that immediately following these “divided tongues as of fire” appearing was power and purity of their speech, leading 3,000 to believe in Jesus Christ! (v.41) Fire spreads!

The tongue holds such an importance, as does the work of the Spirit in our lives to bring it under control. We can follow sinful nature into destruction with our tongue, or we can follow the Spirit into eternal life with our tongue not just for ourselves, but for others.

“A guy is riding in the first-class cabin of a train in Spain and to his delight, he notices that he’s sitting net to Pablo Picasso. Gathering up his courage, he turns to the master and says, “Señor Picasso, you are a great artist, but why is all your art, all modern art, so screwed up? Why don’t you paint reality instead of these distortions?”
Picasso hesitates for a moment and asks, “So what do you think reality looks like?”
The man grabs his wallet and pulls out a picture of his wife. “Here, like this. It’s my wife.”
Picasso take the photograph, looks at it, and grins. “Really? She’s very small. And flat,too.”

From the introduction Seth Godin’s book “Linchpin”

Really looking forward to reading this one!

He goes through the process of making a cross out of junk. Filming of junk collecting in alleys of Detroit and at the wood workshop in CCS(College for Creative Studies) was done using Photo Booth on a MacBook Pro. Music is He Never Said a Mumblin’ Word by The Welcome Wagon.

@adrianwarnock: Looking for a buddy to test out video iChat with for a couple of mins…anyone out there with five mins to spare? DM me your iChat account

Well, I couldn’t resist! I sent a DM and I actually ended up doing an “interview” on the spot with him over my lunch break. This is uncut, and Adrian has some great things to say.

This is the result of interviewing someone on-the-spot whom you don’t know a whole lot about. I encourage you to pick up his new book Raised With Christ today!

Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
-Colossians 3:11

Martin Luther King Jr. echoed the work that Christ accomplished in reconciling all types of people to Himself when he said:

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

Paul was addressing Christians, while Martin Luther King Jr. was addressing a nation. These words are still meaningful today, and we should live toward others knowing the truth that all men are indeed created equal. There should be no prejudice toward skin color, personality, cultural, or secondary theological differences in the body of Christ; for as we have been reconciled to God, we should be reconciled to each other. Paul continues with this command, which I believe is the remedy to such prejudice:

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
-Colossians 3:12-14

Let’s move past our differences and serve Christ together.