MetroMonk

This is a picture of grass with weeds in it. That's crabgrass in the picture. This isn't a picture from my lawn, but my yard does have weeds in it. Some weeds more easily removed than others. Crabgrass is fairly easy to kill off, but some put up a great fight to stay alive. My yard has has the fighting kind. My North Carolina lawn has wonderful fescue with some bermuda sprinkles around randomly and fighting weeds. I don't know what kind they are...I'm still learning my NC "weedology." My life right now is like my lawn, it has weeds. The fighting kind.   So let me get real and make a transition from a real tangible example to a more spiritually one. Let's call my "weeds" sin. No, scratch that. My weeds are more like demons- spiritual demons. They don't leave me alone. They always call out and persecute me. It's very much like hearing voices, but there is another I hear too. That other voice is the voice of Christ. I am always hea...

Father help me,   I'm torn,     So torn, The beauty of this world   & You. Hopeless wanderer,   I'm a hopeless wanderer, But you know this,   You know,     You know me. You know all of me,   Father of lights     you know me. I love that,   It's freeing. I don't want anyone to see,   but with you it's different. I feel you,   you fill me.     Fill me more.     Fill me again.     Fill me.     Fill me up. Turn my loneliness to solitude,   My hostility to hospitality, Set my ever wandering eyes   to a gaze, Turn my curiosity to contentment, Turn my usefulness to useful. I have gifts too, I have value too, I have worth, Lord help me,   Use me,     Help. You are the Lord, You are the Lord- Amen! Tweet

Sometimes faith makes no sense. At the same time, faith doesn't always transcend experience and reason. God is reasonable, and sometimes, he is not. Right? It is definitely true that the Lord speaks to use through common sense and knowledge, but what happens when what you feel and hear make no logical sense?  This is what has been happening to me and my family. But this post isn't about trying to make sense of it or trying to explain faith- this post is about my decision to LIVE OUT LOUD.  When we began this journey to move I really didn't want to tell anyone. I just wanted to head out at the 11th hour and tell people once I had everything all figured out, but nothing went according to my plan. Looking back on it, I suppose the Lord did answer my prayer and have his way. People found out. Everyone found out it seemed. Random people my wife and I never really talked to came up to us and said, "so I hear you're moving." We were surprised at how fast the ...

"The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him" (John 1:9-11). "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14 NIV 2011). Can you imagine being in the presence of the "true light of the world" and not seeing it? Not recognizing? Not seeing it for what it really is? Can you imagine being in front of "the Word made flesh" and knowing who it really was you were with? Mind boggling.  Or is it? Do you see glory around you today? Maybe you have reminisced about some previous encounter only to realize how special it was after the fact. I feel like it's more common to know who special something was only after it has passed. The old cliche, ...

Don't Forget, Remember! 9/11 & the stories of our lives.  One of my favorite times the end of each and everyday is story time. "Daddy, books tonight?" "Of course" I reply. "How about 3 or 4 tonight?" my son usually asks back. "Nah, how about just two. Maybe an extra if you're lucky" I say. I don't know what it is, but he is always so lucky. There are so many stories; scary stories, sappy stories, superhero stories. There are stories about trucks, planes, animals, and even going potty for the first time. My children love stories. Often they imagine themselves in the stories and the story takes on a whole new life of its own. It's as if there is some automatic response that each kid does when hearing certain stories (at least with mine), they immerse themselves into it. Before my oldest was tolerant of sitting and having a book read to him, I would ask him what elements he would like me to plug into the story. He was alwa...