welcome back (humming along to mase)

Okay friends, I've been more active on your blogs than on my own lately, but the time has come for a little electronic ink to spill on this page.

A flurry of activity these days...the summer speeds up for this professsion of mine, as the school cages have opened and I get to spend a bit more time with our students. Some of you guys have already commented on the fun had at Uplift this year, and I have to say it really was one of my favortie years, probably since 2000, and even edged that year out, I think. What was particularly significant was the way our kids took care of each other, and really encouraged each other this time. That made such a difference, and I really see turns taking place in people's lives, little and big changes. I see disciples treating people better, being more grateful for little things, celebrating joy with each other, and making space for others in their lives. Less selfishness, muy bueno. hearing from other YM's, counselors, and kids that oru kids were really leading and participating in the groups, classes, etc, made me feel proud of you guys, so props to you guys who stumble through this site from time to time, and to those who don't.

Always on my mind these days: what does it mean to follow Jesus, to be a disciple? I need to spend more time at this simplest level, at this core. following, imitating, learning from Jesus. And should I understand the church as the filter through which this comes, or an agent of the teaching, leading, and demonstrative christ? What kind of ecclesiology can we have based on the simple practice of discipleship? could one with this type of focus do a better job of connecting the gospels with the epistles? What do the ethical, doctrinal admonitions of Paul have to do with the Teacher and his band of followers?

greed

Alright, one of our students led our devo last night, and called my attention to the well known passage in I timothy 5 about greed and the love of money. Besides the well known part about the love of money being the root of all kinds of evil, there's a really powerful phrase about people eager for money piercing themselves with many griefs.

Piercing themselves with many griefs.

disc today

For anybody interested, there will be some serious disc golf today (thursday) at burns park at 3:15. Give me a holler if you need a ride.

trust

My dear friend cassandra got me thinking about trust last night, and any feedback you can provide is welcome...trying to get my brain around this again, because she was making me think of things I haven't mulled over in a while.

How do you think about trust? Is it something you do, like a skill? Like I'm either good at trusting or bad at it? Or is it more dependent on who I'm around...like if I always hang out with liars I will never trust, but in other situations I would find it easier? Or is it strictly a relational term, and dependent on both parties to some extent?

It always struck me as weird that I corinthians 13 says that love "always trusts"...and this is prescribed as appropriate human behavior!?! Don't we call that being naive? But on the other hand, I want to be the best at loving people, and I think part of that is learning to trust pretty relentlessly. Foolish?


a little help?

(cass: thanks for stirring my thoughts, but most of all, thanks for the...well, the trust.)