John 8:10 & 11, (with Paraphrase)

"Jesus stood up and said to her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.'" John 8: 10 & 11

Paraphrase:

"You are absolutely guilty,

unconditionally forgiven,

now go,

live in that truth everyday,

for the rest of your life."

Blessings,
PB

Can I Handle The Truth?

Please link to this post by Anne Jackson.

Please watch the video.

Please watch it, in its entirety.

Please watch it, in one sitting.

If you do, you will see the horrors of poverty, the resilient love of a child, and the hope that results when people respond to God's call to be grace givers. It is very hard to watch. But let me ask it again...please link to, and please watch this video in it's entirety. Our temptation when faced with this kind of truth is to back away from, and ignore it.

Even though I have asked God to grow me in the area of active compassion; I still want to run away and turn a blind eye to the vast need that is present in this world: this world that I live in, this world that I call my Father's world. Sadly there are times when I can't handle the truth, about the condition of the world. In fact there are times when I would rather not be aware of the truth. The ugly truth about my willingness to ignore a hard truth, is that took me three attempts to watch this video. I am not okay with that. I am not okay with the skill that I have developed that enables me to so easily turn a blind eye to truths that make me uncomfortable. So, today I start praying a new prayer over my life. I pray that God will make of me someone who will face the truth. Because as long as I continue to allow myself to live blind to these kinds of truths, I will never be the kind of grace giver that my Father would have me be.

PB

Jr. High Basketball: "I Love This Game!"

Basketball season at Faith Christian School is just about over. And thought their record isn't what you might hope for, 1 & whatever. Still for me, it has been their best season ever, the best ever because this year Kyle (my kid) played on the team. It was wonderful to watch him giving his best every time he was on the court, and then cheering for his teammates when on the bench. I can't be prouder of how he played, or of how he conducted himself from the bench this year.

The only negative to the whole season has been the absence of relatives. Because unfortunately, all of Kyle's relatives live in New York, Georgia, Florida or Texas. All of which are too far away to attend a game in Maryland. I would have loved it if just once, Kyle would have heard the voice of a grandparent, an aunt or an uncle shouting his name with encouragement and pride from the sidelines as he made a rebound, or stole a pass; he would have loved it as well. Few things feel as good as having the people you most love, on your side, and championing your efforts.

It was that negative, that so clearly framed for me what turned out to be a wonderfully positive, and visible demonstration of an important truth. The church really is a family. If you have been in church for any amount of time you have heard this spoken of in one way or another. As a pastor, I have spoken of this myself on any number of occasions. But it came alive, I mean really alive for me at a Jr. High basketball game this season. It became alive for me when I heard voices in the crowd shouting for my son by name. Voices that did not belong to myself, or to my wife. These shouting voices combined Kyle's name with other words like, "nice job," "great," "get it," and "don't worry about it." At times it almost seemed as if Kyle had a fan club of his own.

Yes tt would have been great if one of Kyle's grandparents had the chance to attend a game this season. Sadly, that wasn't possible. Still, Kyle did have fans, fans other than the ones that drove him home. These fans happen to be are a part of the same church, but more importantly they really are a part of the same family. "I Love This Game," is a slogan of the NBA. But for me, it is true of Jr. High basketball at Faith Christian School; because it was there that the family of God rallied around and cheered for my son.

Blessings,
PB