Around the High Calling Network

Have you taken a look at the huge number of bloggers who are
now a part of our network? Check out our blogroll. You can read the latest
postings at our feed page. Christian people
populate the world in almost every profession. Our folks write about
everything under the sun. Here are a few things I’ve enjoyed lately:

Gordon
Atkinson (real live preacher)

Bob.blog writes about how he deals
with daily frustrations.

Heather Goodman writes about finding a place for her artistic
creativity in seminary. Part one here. Part two here.

Karenee reflects on whether in the
view of the scriptures, the good life might sometimes be the hard life.

Cara Putnam writes about the
difficulties she has as a writer in waiting on publishers.

Emails to God prays that he will
be a good example of “following” for his children.

Stuff in the Basement is meeting a
Native American woman from the Winnebago tribe. His ancestors took
their land, and he’s not sure what to do about that.

What Does Freedom Mean?

Clearly God thinks a lot of freedom. It is because we are free to live our
lives well or badly that Christ had to come to this world. We haven’t generally made
good choices in that regard. People all over the world long for freedom of one
kind or another. But there is a catch. What happens when my freedom infringes
upon yours? One of our new bloggers, Christine Sine of
Godspace writes
about how the Australian view of freedom differs from ideas of freedom here in
America. Then she asks what freedom looks like in the Kingdom of God.

“To Americans the concept of freedom focuses on the freedom of individual
choice, which can be as trivial as the right to choose whether I want my eggs
sunny side up or over easy, or as serious as the right to bear arms. What I
struggle with is that there seems to be little recognition of the often dire
consequences our individual choices can have for the society or for the world in
which we live.

To Australians freedom revolves around the freedom of society and the
recognition that our decisions all have consequences not just for us as
individuals but for all of our society and our world. Consequently most
Australians are willing to give up the right to bear arms for the good of a safe
society in which we don’t have to worry about drive by shootings. In the
Australian political system voting is compulsory because of the belief that with
the freedom of citizenship comes the responsibility of participation in the
process that provides our freedom.

All of this leads me to my most important question about freedom “What does
freedom look like in the kingdom of God.”…Click
here to read more.

Godspace -
Physician, writer, church consultant, and gardner Christine Sine writes about
life.

Thoughts on Unbelief

It is very popular in our day to ask this question: “Do you believe in
God?” There have been hundreds of polls about whether or not Americans believe
in God. Unfortunately, none of these polls help us understand what it means to
believe and what it means to say “God.” By and large, these polls are
meaningless.

The most important question is not whether or not you believe in God. The
most important question is, “Who are you serving?” For if you serve no one but
yourself and your culture, whatever claims you make about God mean nothing. And
if you are serving the Lord with all of your heart, even your doubts will be
forgiven you.

Red Letter Believers take a hard and searching look at their own hearts in
their latest piece on belief and unbelief.

“It’s easy to point out the sadness of the intolerant and pompous
pronouncements of modern-day atheists like Christopher Hitchens, Richard
Dawkins, and Sam Harris. How do they shake the haunting emptiness in their soul?
What do they fill it with? Learning? Materialism? Humanism? Hedonism?
Selfishness?

When they look at the stars at night, do they ever wonder “what is at the
edge of space?” When they contemplate the bookends of our existence, do they
ever think “when did time begin? And when will it end?” Do they ever wonder,
“Who am I?”

But, admittedly, my own world is filled with documented moments of doubt.”…Click
here to read more.

Red Letter
Believers - Red Letter Believers don’t just wear a title.
They seek to live out their faith — impacting their jobs, their homes,
their communities, and their nation.

What Does it Mean to be Feminine?

“So God created mankind in His own image. In His own image He created
them; male and female He created them.”

Famous words from Genesis chapter one. And ever since that day, I
suppose, we men and women have been trying to figure each other out. Fairly
unsuccessfully, I might add. Heather Goodman writes very seriously about what it
means to be a woman, to be feminine. As a man, I found her words fascinating.
And helpful.

“Inspired by Christianne, I’ve been wanting to do a post about my journey to
femininity (is that a word? and while we’re on the subject, is it towards or
toward?). I want to share how I came to be okay with being both feminine and
theologian.

But then I questioned myself–is it a matter of being feminine and
theologian? or is it a matter of being my personality type and theologian?
Perhaps both. In fact, I suspect both.” …Click
here to read more.

L’Chaim - To life! This
website is dedicated to the Creator, his creation, and the dance of life.

Seek Ye First

So what’s the main thing for you? Seriously. Most people probably can’t
answer that question. That’s because most of us live on auto-pilot. We follow
our culture’s expectations without asking too many questions. That’s where the
gospel gets tough. Christ calls us to seek first the Kingdom of God. But what
does that mean?

Every Square Inch asks a hard question in a recent post. What would it
mean for a person to put the gospel at the center of his or her life? What would
it mean to let the message of Christ be your prime motivating factor?

This may sound like run of the mill, religious-speak to you but I think what
makes this quote particularly provocative is that it is alien to the way most
Christians think about their lives. When we think about career choices, how many
of us take the advance of the gospel into account? How about the pursuit of the
American dream - two kids, white picket fence et al, - where does the advance of
gospel fit into that pursuit? It’s entirely possible that for most of us, this
central aspiration has been pushed to the periphery of our lives…still in view
but marginal…Click
here to read more.

Every Square
Inch - Conversations on the glory of Christ in
business and culture.

Blessing Found in Silence

They say silence is golden. So why is it that silence is so hard for us?

Silence can be shocking to us when we find it unexpectedly. But when you become

quiet, you also can become open to seeing and receiving small blessings that

many people miss.

I’m not sure why I’m writing this post. It has something to do with believing

the idea that physical circumstances are put into my life by God to teach me

spiritual lessons. I try to take notice when unusual things happen and when the

same darn thing happens over and over again. A few nights ago, I went out to

take one of our dogs, Dunkin, a yellow Labrador retriever, for a walk as usual.

As soon as I walked out of the house I noticed the silence. I live near some

well-travelled streets and it is very unusual for it to be truly quiet…Click

here to read more.

Preparation 4 Eternity - A blog for Christian husbands.

The Memories of a Child

Memories are fleeting things. They are notoriously inexact, and yet they
are all we have tying us to the past. Children’s memories are particularly
suspect…or are they? Perhaps the memories of a child can point us in the
direction of the most important things in life. Debbie Warnack, of GoodThoughts
thinks so. Check out her latest posting.

Our daughter, Laurie, called today…as usual she had a Maggie story. Maggie
iVivblogs 4 years old with big brown eyes, curly hair and a smile that doesn’t
stop. It seems that Vivian, Maggie’s 7 year old sister who also happens to be
equally cute as pie, came running into the kitchen yelling, “Mom, Maggie is
washing her face in the toilet!”

When Laurie and Vivian get to the bathroom… sure enough…there’s Maggie
…standing in front of the toilet… face freshly washed…dripping washcloth
in hand! She looks up at her mom and says, “I’m just rinsing out my
washcloth!”…Click
here to read more.

GoodThoughts - Debbie is a painter
who creates in many media, including words. Her blog’s subtitle is: “Go
Confidently in the Direction of Your Dreams.”

A Teacher’s First Day

Do you remember your teachers? Do you remember thinking that they were
perfectly confident and always in control? I always held teachers in high
esteem. In high school because they had such power over us. In college because I
respected their knowledge and learning. I never realized that they were people,
working, striving, and trying to do a good job. And I never realized that my
performance and opinion of them mattered. J. Schaap, a teacher, writes about his
feelings on the first day of a new semester.

Yesterday, the first day of another long semester, I walked into a classroom
of 19-year-olds whose course of study set them right in front of me for a
college writing class. None of them chose to be there; it’s a core course.

They don’t know me; I don’t know them. We’re a forced marriage. So yesterday
I started courting because passion sells in education; and part of my job–a
significant part–is motivation. What happens in a classroom is really a species
of courtship. And, after almost forty years, I don’t know that I have the heart
and soul for another round…Click
here to read more.

Stuff in the
Basement - Writer & educator J. Schaap writes about life and the things that
matter to him.

Writing for God

We all have work to do. Everyone has their own calling, and each kind of

work can be used in its own way for the Kingdom of Heaven. Author Mary Demuth Author Mary Demuth writes about

what it means to be an artist and create for the glory of God.

The way I look at it, as artists who love Jesus, our first onus is to Him

first. Perhaps the most difficult thing to do is create the piece He is calling

us to, despite the possibilities of criticism from others. Isn’t that what Jesus

did in His relationship to the Father? Listened and watched to see and

understand what the Father had Him do, and then do it to the utmost?

Click here to read more.

Releventblog - The blog

of author Mary DeMuth

Peace does not always mean addition

I recently took a trip to the Dominican Republic with
Edge Outreach, a
Christian organization that installs water purifiers in poor areas of the world.
I spent a week with people who do not have much. And while I was there, I didn’t
have very much myself. Yet I was strangely happy? Acquisition is such a natural
and easy thing in our culture. And it is so easy to put faith in the idea that
if you can just get a little more, you’ll be happy.

I really appreciated something I read recently in Tanya Dennis’ blog, In
the Dailies. She too notes that the temptation to think more will make you happy
is hard to overcome - Real Live Preacher

“We need another kid to have peace.” Even as the words escaped my lips, I
laughed at the double meaning.

Rick and I admired the mantel stocking hooks in Pottery Barn. Our options
were JOY, LOVE or PEACE. We agreed “peace” was the most festive word, but with
only two kids, our little family doesn’t qualify. While sauntering through the
rest of the store, we debated the virtures of a dog versus a third child.

Click here to read more.

In the Dailies
- Discovering the extraordinary God in ordinary life.

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