Love your transparency. We’ve all been there…well..no we are there!

Perhaps I’ll make a sign and post it to my mirror.
“Stay in the present by thinking about yourself LESS.”

I love the message of acceptance!!!!!
Thanks for sharing, Ed.

Thanks for the heads up.

What can you tell me about the new book?
What’s his slant on it?

I guess the thing to remember is that we are nothing without Jesus, but we can do all things through Christ Jesus.

The “Through Christ” part is what keeps the balance. Because as soon as we think that we can do everything by ourselves, life will prove to us that we can not, we call it “being stressed out”.

I like how Paul mentioned this in 2Corinthians 10:8 & 12,13

Thanks for your thoughts. I hope and pray I can continue to grow as well. But Tim’s thoughts create such a clarity and a special hope don’t you think?

Its so good to hear from you.

Amen…well said Dan.

Sue…I sense that same Jesus exists and rattles around inside all our souls provoking us to make sense of it. I believe we begin with positive propositions. Something IS there. But to know him…to prove him…requires something of us. Something that begins with a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

If we truly believed there was nothing there we’d pay no attention to it. Yet the searching to make sense of it exists in every corner of the globe.

Thanks again Sue…I hope your journey brings you peace.

I agree with you the The Divine IS! And what you say makes sense to me in that The Divine is before and prior to all our doubts. I hear a lot of resonance, too, in your “moving the focal point” away from starting with us — our doubts, hopes, etc. — to beginning with God. I think that’s part of what Timothy Keller (and Ed) are pointing us to do.

For many of us who have lived most of our lives in churches, it’s easy to get stuck in the cliches and traditions, and we need to be shaken with a new paradigm. Jesus was great at that, especially when he told his stories — he was forever changing the point of view and helping us see differently.

What I wonder (and I’m just making assumptions from some of the language you use), is whether you know that The Divine (who is before and prior and beyond reason) is also personal and present? Nothing in my life has made a greater difference than in understanding a tiny fraction of who God is (which you seem to get quite easily), then beginning to understand that The Divine from before all time and understanding pierced the veil and entered time and was willing to meet with me as a frail, oh so limited human. All of our churchy hand-wringing can never capture who he is — you have to meet him to believe it, but Jesus… he is both the Divine before beyond and above all, and he’s also the most wonderful person you could ever meet.

I was simultaneously overconfident and ‘over humble.’ I was ‘overhumble’ because I assumed that my day to day impact on the team in Indy probably wasn’t that big of a deal and that they were all so strong that they’d be fine. But they weren’t — they needed the coaching and encouragement that I was giving them, if not from me, from somebody!

I was overconfident because I assumed that since I’d been connected with them for so long, I could check in once in awhile and it would be fine. It wasn’t. They deserved more. I think the point is exactly that we really do often think more or less of ourselves instead of thinking of ourselves less. If I’d have thought more about the team, what they needed and the useful role I was playing, I’d have realized that we needed to anoint one of them to step up right away instead of waiting six months.

I really do think this applies to life in faith as well — it’s so easy to be overhumble and think we aren’t making a difference — we probably are! And it’s easy to be overconfident and think we can (without paying full attention) cover what people need, even from a distance. This is a fine reminder to be present, and active in our day-to-day lives, living the faith, because with our eyes on others, we can humbly be confident that God in us will make a difference.

The Divine simply IS, before and prior to the thinking doubt-filled mind that needs to ask any questions re IT’s existence.

To ask the question, and even to try to “prove” that The Divine exists, is, in effect, to affirm the negative proposition that The Divine does not exist until “proven” absolutely, by the same DOUBTING MIND that asked the question in the first place.