rick – i am glad you liked it, and yes, that inspiration addiction post was one of my very favorite blog posts of all time, written by my friend karl wheeler from the refuge. i think about it often. it’s such a subtle one and so we don’t think of it as “addiction” but it truly is. detox is sometimes required…

lori – yeah, it’s hard to find. i see the dilemma for “churches” because there’s this weird bait & switch that they have to live with–if we can’t ‘keep’ them, then how can we ‘use’ them? i know that’s strong language but i think it’s true because i know the hearts of so many churches isn’t to get people who come there addicted to inspiration but that’s the only way they know how to get them there. the problem is that the ways of jesus aren’t really exciting, aren’t for the faint-hearted, and are for people who are willing to sacrifice their needs/wants/desires for others. i think we have done a great disservice to the world by focusing on inspiration instead of true kingdom-living. i wish you lived closer!

mary – yeah, me, too. glad we’re ‘uninspired’ together. it’s probably the most change i’ve ever experienced, though!

randi – yes, there are all kinds of different ways out there and i am glad you are finding yours…it’s beautiful to see!

margret – this is a powerful story, thanks for sharing so honestly & it hits so clearly on this issue of how we hold back all the time for all kinds of reasons–pride, fear, oh all kinds of things–and in that we miss out on real relationship with others. i am glad that you find some hope & encouragement here at the carnival and don’t feel “taken for a ride” that made me smile

tom – yes, it sounds like you have been in an incredible season of healing & strengthening & finding true freedom. it is beautiful and i think points to all the different shapes & forms the kingdom of God takes. and that even though you are in a season of ‘alone’ you haven’t isolated and are connected to others in a very tangible way that is far more challenging & filling & real than all those years of sitting in “church.” “ecclesia” can take place in many shapes & forms. thanks for your faithful encouragement here and contributions to the conversations, i am thankful.

mark – apprenticeship is a beautiful description of it. love it. and love your heart and passion for the kingdom, it is contagious!!!

minnow – always love what you share and the challenging ideas you stir up. thanks for the link love.

You all are so incredibly blessed to have real community of Christ followers. I so long for the day that Father places in such a community that I have tears in my eyes even as I write these words! So few in this culture ever find genuine Ecclesia community.

Tom

Several parts of today’s post moved me deeply, and one I must comment on:

“have to ‘need’. maybe this is the hardest part. …but the other side of the coin—’to need’—sometimes gets overlooked. parts of the body need each other.”

The year was 1999. We were meeting friends for breakfast, people I’d known since I said “yes” to Jesus’ offer of life a decade before, people who would no longer live close by because they were moving 350 miles away.

The year before, my husband and I had the worst year in our married lives. He’d become sick and couldn’t work; got laid off. Got better, found another job. I got pregnant; difficult pregnancy; couldn’t work; lost the baby midway through the pregnancy. All told, we probably only had 25% of our annual income so, along with our deep sorrow, we “lost” our house.

Did we mention this to these friends? Not until the end of our breakfast, and only because she pushed me to stop chatting about surface things. I didn’t want to tell them, not because of pride, but because I didn’t want them worried/concerned/burdened as they began this new chapter in their lives. Was my decision correct? As it turned out, no. Just as you stated, Kathy, they needed to be needed, and we prevented them from having that experience. Sorry to say, my choice drove a wedge in our relationship and we’re no longer close.

And I still have a tough time with that, confusing needy with being needed. But I’m learning. Those closest to me now, the ones I call “heart friends”, don’t let me tough it out on my own.

Thank you for reinforcing a lesson so hard for me to learn. Thank you for your compassion, your love and deep, abiding care for those Jesus died to save.

All of Heaven’s best to you and yours,
Margret

To relate to your paragraph on jealousy… I too have been thinking on my journey recently how ironic it is that 2 or 3 years ago I would have LOVED where I am now. I would have ate all of this up so much, what I’m involved with now and would have been so happy … but because of all God has done in the past few years… I just can’t be okay with what I see/experience. The tension I feel..the uneasiness.. the discontent is there now and makes me so unsatisfied. It would be so much easier if I could not know what I know and could fit in better…. but God is doing something different…… once you’ve been opened to a new vision or something (?) you are changed and can’t fit into where you once were….. but at the same time, I don’t think that just because God has given others around me that same vision/calling that they are on the wrong path/unbiblical/whatever…. I just belive GOd has a different plan for them and different path and they are where they are, believing what they believe, seeing what they are seeing for a reason too.

Anyway! Just rambling as usaul. really really great post though – gotta save this one. really good one.

this paragraph really clarified a lot for me on different viewpoints I have been hearing for a while now. very good:
“let’s face it, deep down most of us are pain avoiders. i also believe “church” hasn’t on the whole done a great job of teaching & modeling this kind of intimate connection primarily because most church leaders aren’t usually measured on their healthy relationship skills but rather on their ability to inspire, build, strategize, and implement”

Thanks!

Your post ironically, inspires us to take a deeper look at what inspires us and shapes us in the ways of love rather than carefully choreographed worship experiences. Beautiful!! As David Bentley Hart observes, “the beautiful does not always immediately commend itself to every taste.”