How To Write Neighbor

Chinese writing is a fascinating thing. The symbols have deep and ancient meanings and often they reveal profound truths. High Calling blogger L.L. Barkat was involved with a group studying spiritual practice. They had some Chinese women with them. When asked to write the word “neighbor” in Chinese, the symbols were for “sunset, cow, rice, ear, mummy, and ancient.” The picture to the left is the actual page from the conference.

So how do those symbols shed light on the meaning of the word “neighbor?” Read more and find out.

We’d gotten into a discussion about loving one’s neighbor. I can hardly understand how to do that! one person said. Suddenly, I got this thought. Lucy, can you write ‘neighbor’ for us in Chinese? Lucy obliged (see pic above). Then I asked her to explain the component pictures contained in the character. Fascinating…

sunset… cow… rice… ear… mummy… ancient…Read More

A Hard Look at Forgiveness

Blake Coffee - The Church Whisperer - tells us a difficult story from a church he worked with. A member had done something terrible, and the question was, “what does it mean to forgive him?” Does forgiving mean forgetting? Does forgiving mean refusing to press charges or testify in court? Does forgiving him mean he can come back to church again and serve?

What does forgiveness mean? Blake takes a serious look at this issue.

I once consulted with a church where a deacon was caught sexually molesting a little girl in the children’s department. He was the only adult (1st mistake) in a children’s Sunday School room with no windows (2nd mistake) and the church had never run any kind of background check on him (or any of their other volunteer workers…3rd mistake). The man fully confessed to the authorities and to the parents of the little girl, and then even more fully confessed to both a problem and a history in this area. He stood before his church and confessed as well. There was actually reconciliation between him and the injured family and there was spiritual restoration of this brother. It was a pretty extraordinary situation in that regard. All of this happened before the church ended up calling me for mediation.…Read More

You, Happier

Sam Van Eman from “New Breed of Advertisers” has noticed a new Best Buy advertising campaign called “You, Happier.” The idea is, of course, that you will be much happier after you’ve picked up a new notebook computer or stereo or flat screen television set.

Sam isn’t the first Christian to speak out against the materialism of our culture, but I LOVE the way he does this. He begins by confessing that he really is happier when he buys stuff. No, really. Buying stuff makes him happy. And if you and I were honest, we’d admit that it makes us happy too.

The solution, according to Sam, is not in denying our basic materialism, but in being willing to set it aside and be unhappy sometimes for the sake of the Kingdom.

Check it out.

Houston let me know about Best Buy’s “You, Happier” slogan. Somehow I missed it, yet it seems that other critics have, too.

After a cursory Google search, I didn’t find too many folks up in arms about “You, Happier.” Perhaps BB’s customers are happier enough that the slogan failed to raise concern. BB didn’t say, “You, Happy,” or, “You, Happiest.” They just said “You, Happier,” and for most customers (including me), they’re right.

I am happier when I get a new laptop or scanner. Shoot, I’m happier when I get a fresh ink cartridge. Not happiest and maybe/maybe not happy, but I’m definitely happier.…Read More.

Tell the Truth - What do you need?

Marcus here. Kaye Torgerson sent me an email a few days ago telling me about something she’s doing over at Silencing the Stones.

I will be starting a new project on my Silencing the Stones blog, in the blogroll here, on Friday. You can read about it here.

Please look over it when you get a chance and let me know what you think. If you like the idea, please get the word out, as I think we could all use a little more support in this crazy life.

Thanks!

Kaye Torgerson

So I headed over to her site and I like the idea. Here’s the bottom line:

Starting Friday, I’m going to feature on this site a Mr. Linky. Please write a post about your current needs. What are you going through? What are you frustrated about? What are your prayer requests? What mistakes have you made that you need help with? What questions do you need answers for? Then I will ask each reader and entrant to pray for the other needs on the list. You can be as general or specific as you want, but know that you are met here with love and open arms.

What can High Calling Bloggers do to help?

Well, you can certainly participate in Kaye’s little writing project if you’re inclined. I’m sure she’d love to get a good turn out.

You could also just click through the posts of people who participate and leave comments of encouragement.

Finally, like she said here, you could pray for each other. Either pray for each other directly based on the needs people share. Or pray for this network in general. That God’s will would be done here.

I mean, we’re making this up as we go folks. We need your help and your prayers if we are going to do a good job of honoring God here.

Writer’s Block

Writing is a strange discipline. You have to make yourself do it. You have to sit down and make yourself write. And yet, every writer knows that when it comes to the creation of the written word, it often feels more like you found the words than made up the words.

And so, when you get writer’s block, there isn’t really much to do except wait patiently and keep making yourself write.

I feel the same is true with prayer. You can’t create certain feelings within yourself with prayer. You can’t make yourself be happy or exultant or any of that. You just have to pray and take whatever the Spirit sends you.

Poet and writer L.L. Barkat is looking for a poem. She admits that she seems to find them more than write them. And that means she’ll have to wait patiently.

Will I…

Will I ever…

Will I ever write a poem again?

These are the anxious thoughts that plague me when it’s been a while since I’ve found a poem. I say found a poem, because in essence this is what happens to me. Poetry is not something I can force. Indeed, I cannot force deep writing of any kind (okay, so I should remember this now that I am stuck, again, on my next chapter in God in the Yard.)

Instead, my deep writing happens kind of like this… mystery, open spaces (mentally), serendipity, inspiration, illumination, resolve.…Read More.

Vocation

High Calling blogger Paul Soupiset is fascinating to me. He’s a musician, artist, and a true seeker. I ought to know because he goes to my church. I also know that Paul thinks deeply about his life and his vocation. He and I have talked about Frederich Buechner’s idea of vocation, which he stated clearly in his book, “Wishful Thinking.” Buechner says that vocation is the intersection of your desire and the world’s need. So while the world may need a preacher, if you do not love preaching, that cannot be your vocation. Likewise, you might love stamp collecting, but it’s hardly a true need in the world.

Paul wrote about this very thing recently at his blog. Check it out:

“there are all different kinds of voices
calling you to all different kinds of work….
the place God calls you to is the place
where your deep gladness
and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

— frederich buechner, “wishful thinking”
[emphasis mine]

when i think occasionally about vocation, i think of this beuchner quote, and maybe for a brief second my mind flashes to vanier and nouwen ensconced in stained glass, and then maybe i think about my day-job, my hobbies, my down-time, and then how i describe what i do. for it seems quite a lot of folks tell me i do quite a lot.…Read More.

Affliate Marketing Could Be the Key to Monetization

Marcus here. I know many of the people here at HighCallingBlogs.com are really blogging for hobby or nonprofit.

But some of you are business people, too. Or at least non-profit entrepreneurs. And you should hear the conversation Chris Cree, Dustin Steve (pronounced “stev-ie”), and I had with Wade Tonkin of ChristianAffliateMarketers.com. (Be sure to click through and watch Wade’s HILARIOUS promo video.)

For the business people and nonprofit entrepreneurs, you MUST go to blogworld. Register NOW. I’m serious. If you are serious about social media, this is seriously the place to be. Did I mention that I was serious? I’m serious. Listen to me. Read the words I am typing onto this screen:

This conference is important.
Flesh and blood encounters with like minded bloggers is important.
Ok, I’ll get off my soapbox now.

After you do that, consider downloading the podcast interview and listening to it on your commute. Or you can listen to it right here in one of my little podcasting experiments:

Find Grace in Hard and Hidden Places

The blog network is quickly approaching 200 members. (We’re doing our very best to welcome everyone, and visit your blogs.) L.L. Barkat of Seedlings In Stone has been with us almost from the beginning.

More importantly, L.L. understands what we’re trying to do here. L.L. caught the vision.

And that vision is expressed beautifully in her recent book Stone Crossings. The subtitle is “Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places.” Which makes me wonder. Where has God shown you grace today?

For example, L.L. finds grace in doubt.

When Peter is faced with the reality that Jesus will die a criminal’s death, doubt assails him. The truth is too difficult, too bloody, too dirty to hold… When we see Jesus in a new unexpected way that fails to meet expectations, we are tempted to falter and say: This is hard; who can accept it?

As an example, L.L. tells the story of a former professor, “David D.” He was “an excellent customer service representative,” she explains. “The attendant who goes beyond the company script, who makes you feel you are a person with read needs and concerns.” When L.L. went to his office with doubts about God’s mere existence, David didn’t flinch.

She writes, “An unquestioned faith is questionable… Covering doubt and demanding unexamined allegiance holds its own special dangers.”

So true.

Here’s another example, L.L. finds grace in sacrifice, the daily living sacrifice that Paul describes in Romans 12:1-2 and that Jesus requests in John 21:17.

Tending sheep is a mundane job. It is a lot of same old, same old–the way we feed kids breakfast, lunch and dinner, or drive to the office and deal with the same people day after day. It is repetitive… So it’s easy for us to overlook the power of small acts…

Recently, I sat across the table from a friend who does all sorts of mundane tasks. She drives her daughter to eight specialist appointments a week. She feeds her family. She and her husband are opening their arms to a new baby from another country.

As we sat at our corner table, this woman raised her cup and sipped. Then with much earnestness, she said, “I just wish I could do something for the Lord.”

I’m not the type to get sappy over tea. But when she said this, I just about spit out my scone. It took a second before I could speak.

“It hurts so much to hear you say that,” I told her… My friend is a rich gift to her family, a shepherd given them for life’s journey. No one is going to put her on TV for what she does every day. She will never be an American Idol star.

Because the rewards are quiet, being dependable in common love is not always inviting.

That’s what high calling blogs is all about. We want to remind people every day to be dependable in common love. Find grace in hard places like the workplace and the grocery store and your daily commute.

Where has God shown you grace and common love today?

One more thing. People often ask how they can help us out. They want to be more active in the network. Believe me, we’re working hard on building tools to help connect you. But here are three FOUR different things you could do.

Option 1, you buy L. L. ’s book. It’s only $12.00.
Option 2, at least click through to IVP’s website so they’ll see our referrals coming in.
Option 3, you can support L.L. by posting about her book and getting the word out.
Option 4, show up on L.L.’s blog and leave an encouraging comment.

If this network is going to be more than just another link exchange, we need to support each other! Be active! Be encouraging! Comment. Post. Link. End of sermon.

Now back to that question. I really do want to know the answer. Where has God shown you grace and common love today?

You load sixteen tons and what do you get?

In keeping with the 1980s nostalgia that has captured some bloggers, I started thinking about one of my all time favorite movies: Joe vs. the Volcano.

And I wondered, how many people go to work and feel like the guy in our featured video?

Poor Joe. He works in a medical accessories factory. They manufacture devices that sound really uncomfortable. I’ll just leave it at that.

And his job looks like hell. I’m being literal. Bad lights that suck the life out of people. Bad bosses that bark inane orders into the phone. Electric hums. Muddy parking lots.

And people marching into work in time to the 1980s rock version of the Tennessee Ernie Ford miner’s song:

You load 16 tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
Saint Peter, don’t you call me ‘cause I can’t go;
I owe my soul to the company store.

Here’s the good news. Work isn’t really like this. It’s not like the Office either. It’s not like Office Space. Or any of those workplace satires. Those are all exaggerated to make the point. We want to take the fax machine out and beat it with a bat, but we don’t. Not really.

Because really. Work isn’t that bad. In fact, it’s better than bad. It’s good. It’s not part of the curse. It’s part of our original purpose–Adam was placed in the garden and given work before he ever messed up:

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
(Gen. 2:15)

Sure, we still live in a fallen world. But we are Christians. We’re not part of the fallen world any more. We’re in the world, but not of it. We’ve been given a new chance to get back to work in the garden. We’ve got work to do. We’ve got things to take care of.

It’s what God wants for us.

If you’re with me on this, let us know in the comments. What Garden has God placed you in?

Or maybe you aren’t with us. Maybe the last few weeks and months make Joe vs. the Volcano and The Office seem a little too realistic. Then take heart. This is NOT God’s plan.

This is NOT what God wants your workplace to look like:

Perspective

“Perspective is everything.” I’ve heard many people say that - painters, writers, and photographers to name a few. It’s all how you look at things. A different point of view can change your emotional perception of almost any kind of reality.

What shocks the senses is a quick and radical perspective change. Such a change suddenly allows you to see things in new ways. I remember being a young boy and going across the border of El Paso into Ciudad Juarez. Suddenly my middle class world gave way to adobe shacks, outhouses, and barefoot children playing soccer with balls of rags. It was a heartbreaking thing and something I’ve never been able to forget. I saw the world in new ways. I saw possessions and wealth in new ways.

Mike Dellosso of “Wide-Eyed Fiction” is a writer and blogger who has cancer and is in the middle of treatment. He was given a very hard and shocking new perspective. Time with his family has suddenly taken on a new meaning. Moments with his daughter have become more precious. Tears and fears seem more intense. And he’s thinking about trust in new ways too. He’s thinking a lot about what it means to trust God.

Yes, I’m thinking about death again. One thing I’m learning about this battle with cancer is that it’s quite relentless. The time between chemo treatments isn’t long enough to fully recover; the time feeling semi-normal isn’t long enough to enjoy; feeling sick and tired gets really old after a while; discouraging stories come at the wrong times.

The other day I overheard a conversation about a boss who died of, you guessed it, colon cancer. The woman talking said he just didn’t respond to the chemo or surgeries. Whenever I hear that, my heart seizes in my chest and I start thinking about death. If it can happen to someone else it can happen to me.…Read More.

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