Wholeheartedness takes so much courage. It requires us to be seen just as we are, warts and all. It requires accepting and even embracing uncomfortable truths. And only in this place of meekness and vulnerability, can we understand who we truly are in God’s eyes. His child. And He is our Father. Our Abba.
To live with this trust, we must know that we are loved. That God knows our hearts better than we do. And that we can trust His love to heal us, restore us, and set us free.
Read MoreThere are so many things in life that could potentially go wrong! Just open your news feed and take a look. All the headlines predicting the next looming crisis. And the thought crosses my mind, if we could just see into the future a bit more, maybe we could avoid the mistakes, control the outcomes, and prevent the potential disasters looming all around us.
A community that sees the heart of Christ in the very least and strives to live sacrificially, compassionately, and generously, with kindness and tenderness. This is the light we shine into the darkness. It invites others towards its warmth.
Read MoreThis image speaks to me of the life we are called to live. Jesus bids us leave aside the comforts for the journey. To travel with him, even though the way seems unsure. Thomas asks, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” And Jesus answers that “I am the way.” He is the journey and the destination, the map, and the guide.
Read MoreDuring Covid, I’ve been reminded just how vital this gathering together is for our souls. Not simply for what we can gain, but what we can give. It is the testimony of God’s love poured out to the world. It is a counter-cultural movement where the one thing that matters above all is faith working through love.
Read MorePeter tells us not merely to lay our prayers at God's feet, or politely offer them as requests. He tells us to throw them at God…to cast them, probably like he would have thrown a net. To develop our arm strength as we pray, instead of our grip strength.
Read MoreLent is a time to reflect on this quick little blip of our lives on the eternal timeline, and marvel that we are caught up in something so much larger than any of this and any of us. Resurrection has happened. Death has been conquered. And though none of us will escape death, it will not be the last word. And the truest part of us will endure.
Read MoreBut to receive this heavenly peace requires a letting go of the other. To gain the next life we must lose this one…at least our misconceptions and distortions. And that letting go can feel terrifying. Massively destabilizing. Out of control. This is why we rarely, if ever, let go on our own. We just don’t. Circumstances must make it so. This is why growth almost always involves a level of suffering and grief.
Read MoreMaybe today we can actually address the issues that have been lurking beneath the surface all this time. Now that we can no longer ignore the rocks, maybe it would be possible to pay attention to the issues that we normally gloss over, ignore, and even deny.
Read More“To see” in Scripture carries with it the power of both the literal and metaphorical. Jesus restores sight to the blind. But even more, he allows us to see the way things truly are. The hidden value. The glory that we so often miss. To see it in ourselves, but even more importantly, to see it in others. And especially the least. The overlooked. The discarded.
Read MoreWhere are we going?
As a pastor and leader, I get asked this question all the time. Usually, these days, it comes with a twinge of anxiety and worry. It can feel a bit more like “where are you taking us?” Which I do understand…with a future that feels unsure and a culmination of uncertainties all colliding at once, it doesn’t surprise me that we want some boundaries, some clarity, some structure that we can depend on.
Read MoreThere’s a poet that I’ve grown to love over the years, George Herbert, who lived in England during the early 17th century. A scholar, who became a country priest, he was also a gifted musician and songwriter. A story is told where Herbert, on the way to play music with some friends, came across a poor man and an even poorer horse in distress and stopped to help them out of the mud and assisted the man in unloading the poor beast. By the time he later joined his friends, he was filthy from head to toe. One of them asked why he had disparaged himself by so dirty an employment. I love Herbert’s answer…that his actions would prove “music to him at midnight.”
Read MoreThese past few weeks have felt oddly serene. There is a calm in my soul, but not the kind that comes from a lessening or diminishing of conflict or chaos. Just the opposite, really. The storm clouds in life have only seemed to loom more ominous on the horizon. Change is coming. I can feel it.
Read MoreI’m still buzzing from the black hole photo that was released last week. Science has made such amazing strides to look forward and backward into our origins and now, into the center of mass and gravity so enormous that time itself becomes irrelevant. Isn’t that so bizarre! At the center of a black hole, time is infinite. We are getting a glimpse of a reality so beyond our comprehension.
Read MoreTime for a confession…
There is a feeling of uncomfortable dissonance that occurs inside of me when I’m weighing a new idea. A twinge of guilt, like I’m breaking an unspoken rule. I hear this voice in my head that says, “good kids simply accept the answers they are given and don’t ask why.” I’m not sure where I learned that, but it somehow stuck. All I knew, growing up, was that, for me, the questions couldn’t be helped. I couldn’t just nod and move on. I wanted to know where the idea came from, why it was there, and what were the limits of its virtue.
Read MoreIf I could level up any one attribute of mine, it would be confidence. I’m not sure why, but it feels like the low roll on my character sheet. Please forgive me for reverting for a moment to my childhood D&D days, but the rest of my attributes… strength, charisma, wisdom…all of these get a fairly decent number. But confidence is way down there at the bottom. Like an Achilles heel. And it doesn’t seem to improve over time.
Read MoreWe’re in the afterglow of Christmas morning, here at the Tacklind home. There’s a fire, slowing dying, in the fireplace. Wrapping paper is still strewn everywhere. There are plates stacked in the sink, still sticky with leftover cinnamon roll icing. In the next room I can hear the pleasant staccato of Gabe’s drumming on his new drum pad. Patty is asleep on the couch, enjoying a much deserved, midday nap. New sweaters and socks are worn by all.
Read MoreChristmas is almost here! Christmas Eve is a week away and for my kids, it can’t get here soon enough. This season, for them, is about a building anticipation. The joy steadily increases as we get closer and closer to the 25th of December. Candlelight services and carols mean we’re almost there. They can’t wait!
But for me, it is just the opposite. I want it to slow down. I want to savor these last few moments. To linger in the beauty of this season. To relish this moment for the wonderful gift that it is.
Read MoreThere is a principle in mathematics known as the Copernican principle which flies right in the face of modern values. The general premise is that things that have been around for a long time are the ones that will endure the test of time. And conversely, the more recent things will soon be gone. It tells us that the exceptions are fleeting and so rudely reminds us that nobody is special.
Read MoreOne of my favorite childhood memories at Christmas time was waiting for the holiday specials to air on television. We’d read the TV guide beforehand to figure out what night Charlie Brown Christmas was going to be on, and then make sure we were ready with a huge bowl of popcorn for that wonderfully nostalgic moment when the revolving word “special” would appear and you’d know the wait was over. The anticipation was suddenly so worth it.
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