Saturday, November 19, 2005

More Than Three

my view of discipleship was challenged and changed at the graduates and career leadership meeting last night. during Christ's ministry on earth, there were roughly 70 people that followed Him from a distance, 12 that were called His disciples, 3 that were named His "inner circle", and 1 who was His "beloved". my previous opinion of discipleship was that it involved only the 3 in the inner circle, the "life on life" discipleship mentality, when in fact, according to the Bible, a disciple is a follower of Christ. therefore, the 70 were being discipled by Christ, and the 12, and even those individuals such as the woman at the well, nicodemus... all of those who had an encounter with Christ and chose to follow Him were being discipled by Him! while the "life on life" (the 3) may in fact be the most crucial form of discipleship in terms of impact on the world, this more wholistic view is true biblical discipleship. how this can challenge and change and encourage our effort to disciple those the Holy Spirit may lead us to!
on a different note, today is the iron bowl... WAR EAGLE!

Friday, November 18, 2005

the leaves and the tree

i have been wanting to and meaning to update my blog for quite some time now... i don't know how time slips by so quickly-- there is hardly time to sit still, to reflect, to share, to live deliberately. there are so many things i want to do with my unscheduled time-- phone calls to important people in my life that i do not talk to enough, projects for our house that i want to start or finish, sitting here in front of the computer sharing my life, reading one of the tens of books i want to read... i wish there were more days in the week or more hours in the day!
it was very interesting that last night clay and i were talking about how humbled and blessed and thankful we are to have such rich fellowship in our lives and that as i was reading The Calvary Road before falling asleep, that very issue was addressed again. "as the spokes get nearer the center of the wheel [God], they get nearer to one another." 1st John insists on testing the depth and reality of our fellowship with God by the depth and reality of our fellowship with our brothers. the only way to find real fellowship with God and man is to live out in the open with both.
how easy it is for us hide our inner selves, to put on appearances, to excuse ourselves... and how difficult to give up our privacy, our pride, our reputations in the name of transparency. when we do not share the truth about ourselves with God and others we end up not knowing the truth about ourselves.
how thankful i am for my monday night girls, for the fact that we are open and honest with one another about our lives, our fears and disappointments and sins, and that we walk away strengthened, encouraged, and challenged as a result (and "funny" that we were just talking about that this week).
i remember jim doggett talking about christian fellowship on the singles retreat two weeks ago, describing it in terms of a fall tree. each individual leaf is unattractive-- not brilliant, full of holes on its own-- but the whole is tremendous, working together to create something brilliant and breathtaking. may we work together in this way.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

on your mark...

my first blog... i have been turning down the idea of a blog, or online diary for quite some time now-- i am pretty much stuck in my ways by now, the way of paper journals and ink. but i have finally decided to give this thing a shot, mostly because i hope it will be another way that family and friends can know me. i would like to share my experiences, thoughts, and feelings-- trials i endure, decisions i make, lessons i learn, encouragement i encounter... in order that: a) i myself may process through and keep record of these things, and b) hopefully encourage or comfort or challenge even one person who may read these words of mine. ultimately, i hope that it will be to the glory of God in some way. and so i begin...