Just started reading a book by Gary Thomas, The Beautiful Fight. My favorite so far. Deeply stirring. If you only join me in reading one of my sabbatical books. You would do well to choose this one. Here is one quote…

“Most of us have heard the modern translation of 2 Timothy 4:7 that says, ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.’ The Orthodox fathers looked at this passage in a different way. They translated the reading like this, ‘I have fought the beautiful fight.'”

The Beautiful Fight — I wonder if most of us have become too comfortable with our faith? Or complacent with our spirituality? Or maybe we’ve lost our sense of the grandeur of the call of God to become like Jesus — worldchangers. We come to church, we go to lifegroup, we learn and discuss and perhaps even get inspired…but if we do not do…anything. Is our faith really — as Paul said — the only race worth running?

One last quote, then I’m going to bed! Read more…

One of my sabbatical goals is to read the entire Bible in 16 weeks. A few weeks ago, when I told someone what I was doing, their only response was… “Why?” Sometimes it is best to just savor a verse or two…or maybe spend a few weeks in one book of the Bible, but there is also value in getting the panoramic view. Whenever I take a panoramic view, I notice themes in a new way.

For example did you ever notice how often Jesus abused the sabbath? I mean in the eyes of the religious leaders, the Pharisees. Jesus just couldn’t stop messing with the Pharisees when it came to the Sabbath. It’s like Jesus took every opportunity he could grab to tweak the religious noses of the Pharisees, when it came to the Sabbath. Read more…

Back to catch up on the last few weeks of my sabbatical journey tomorrow… Today is sabbath in Minnesota. The Nold family, minus Sarah, but plus Jenna (Katy’s friend and about as close a part of the family as you can get without being adopted) spent last week in Minnesota at a cabin on a lake. Had a great time — more on that later — but they left me last night and headed back to PA. I’m here for another 12 days, time for some sabbatical solitude.

So today, I went to a worship gathering at one of our conference churches called Eaglebrook. Reminded me a little of Calvary, except a whole lot bigger. Great music, strong emphasis on small group connections, and in the process of going multi-site.

A couple of thoughts occurred to me as I sat there. Read more…

So this is my first blog post. I’ve been pondering the whole blog thing for awhile, but finally it was my sabbatical that pushed the decision to the front page. Last year I got blessed with a team of people from Calvary (home church) who helped me write a Lilly grant for a sabbatical…and I ended up getting it. Read more…