Praise Habit David Crowder

There is a sign in my favorite restaurant, 1424, which happens to be located directly across the street from my house, that hangs by the bar and states, in black letters on a pale-yellow background, “You Are Here.”…You often here or encounter inspirational art convincing you to live as if today is the last, to engage each moment as if it were all we had, but usually this is married to the idea that it is. That this is it. There is nothing more than now. All we get is what we suck out of this moment. But I disagree. I read, “You Are Here,” and I am equally inspired to be fully present in this moment, but it is not because that is all I have but because I am bringing something more. I am bringing the very kingdom of God. I read, “You Are Here,” and I, ignoring the dramatic punctuation of finality, think, “The kingdom of God is sitting at this bar, waiting to bring something better.”

We are to be rescue. We are to be redemption. We are to carry the story of God to the ones waiting. To the ones with their hands on their chest, begging you to notice that things aren’t right. And this is praise. You are the note sounding in a thousand different rooms. There are chords and reflective surfaces around you. There is context.

Why Men Hate Going to Church David Murrow

Because the church does not need men’s gifts, they feel rejected. George Barna interviewed Al Perkins, a nominal churchgoer:

"When you reject the things I stand for—excellence, strategic thinking, progress, efficiency, vision, controlled risks, bottom-line performance—you reject me. I used to take it personally, but I’ve minimized the anger by making my church involvement less of a priority."

Holy Discontent Bill Hybels

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

"We were all created to do good works. I was created to good works. Just as confidently, I'm here to tell you that you were created to do good works, which explains how I know that you have a holy discontent banging around in your brain somewhere--if you're alive and kicking today, then there is a specific work that you are expected to do. There is a set of tasks with your name on it that God has given you to accomplish, and long before you actually arrived on the scene, God planted certain seeds in your soul that he remains whole-heartedly committed to watering, growing, and making into something meaningful, if you will let him.

The danger in opting out of the holy discontent pursuit is that in doing so, you also opt out of tackling the good works God has wired you up to accomplish. The goal, friends, is to cultivate your soul's soil so that this doing-of-good-works process can unfold in your life--or, as you might say, to opt in. There is no greater satisfaction this side of heaven!"

Blue Like Jazz Donald Miller

"I know now, from experience, that the path to joy winds through this dark valley. I think every well-adjusted human being has dealt squarely with his or her own depravity. I realize this sounds very Christian, very fundamentalist and browbeating, but I want to tell you this part of what the Christians are saying is true. I think Jesus feels strongly about communicating the idea of our brokenness, and I think it is worth reflection. Nothing is going to change in the Congo until you and I figure out what is wrong with the person in the mirror."

Donald Miller

Wild at Heart John Elderedge

"The only way to live in this adventure-with all its danger and unpredictability and immensely high stakes-is an ongoing, intimate relationship with God. The control we so desperately crave is an illusion. Far better to give it up in exchange for God's offer of companionship, set aside stale formulas so that we might enter into an informal relatiohship...David-a man after God's own heart-also walked and warred and loved his way through life in a conversational intimacy with God."

The Way of the Wild Heart John Elderedge

"You see, what we have now is a world of uninitiated men. Partial men. Boys, mostly, walking around in men's bodies, with men's jobs and families, finances, and responsibilities. The passing on of masculinity was never completed, if it was begun at all. The boy was never taken through the process of masculine initiation. That's why most of us are Unfinished Men. And therefore unable to truly live as men in whatever life throws at us. And unable to pass on to our sons and daughters what they need to become whole and holy men and women themselves."

Under Construction

This life, therefore, is not righteousness but growth in righteousness,
not health but healing,
not being but becoming,
not rest but exercise.

We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it;
the process is not yet finished but it is going on;
this is not the end but it is the road.
all does not yet gleam in glory but all is being purified.

-Martin Luther