Comments on: doubt & faith: new ways for old words http://kathyescobar.com/2009/10/12/doubt-faith-new-ways-for-old-words/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=doubt-faith-new-ways-for-old-words Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:25:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: kathyescobar http://kathyescobar.com/2009/10/12/doubt-faith-new-ways-for-old-words/#comment-2926 kathyescobar Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:10:43 +0000 http://kathyescobar.com/?p=2421#comment-2926 <strong>mary</strong> - oh that is such a beautiful and real image. i so get it. letting God in is definitely not my reflex. <strong>danny </strong>- great to hear from you. sorry i am behind on responding to comments, but i really appreciate you stopping by and adding your perspectives. i haven't seen the big lebowski, but i have heard it is really good. i will have to add that to our queue. hope to hear from you again. yes, please, mercy! <strong>karl</strong> - oh i love that thought. it is so true, isn't it. we think it's supposed to be in our head but really it happens through our feet..thanks for sharing & for a great evening together with lots of lingering thoughts. <strong>shelby</strong> - great to hear from you, it's been a while. i appreciate your sharing a bit of your journey & what these 3 words look like for you in action. lovely. i am glad you like the juicy questions! mary – oh that is such a beautiful and real image. i so get it. letting God in is definitely not my reflex.

danny - great to hear from you. sorry i am behind on responding to comments, but i really appreciate you stopping by and adding your perspectives. i haven’t seen the big lebowski, but i have heard it is really good. i will have to add that to our queue. hope to hear from you again. yes, please, mercy!

karl – oh i love that thought. it is so true, isn’t it. we think it’s supposed to be in our head but really it happens through our feet..thanks for sharing & for a great evening together with lots of lingering thoughts.

shelby – great to hear from you, it’s been a while. i appreciate your sharing a bit of your journey & what these 3 words look like for you in action. lovely. i am glad you like the juicy questions!

]]> By: Shelby http://kathyescobar.com/2009/10/12/doubt-faith-new-ways-for-old-words/#comment-2921 Shelby Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:08:12 +0000 http://kathyescobar.com/?p=2421#comment-2921 Kathy, I've been searching for a way to express the brushy path of belief God has led me through in the last few years. You said it perfectly: "i believe one of the tasks of “the church” moving forward is to really re-claim the beauty & mystery & challenge of the Bible without setting people up for the “i suck & can never pull this off” mentality that i believe is terribly pervasive & often paralyzing." For me, trust has meant following God in the opposite direction of where I thought I should go. Three years ago, I quit my job in a bold "Here I Am, Send Me!" kind of way. I sincerely wanted to make myself available for God's good works. And you know where we headed? Inside me. I remember saying, "No God, you've got it wrong. You're releasing me. We're not going out. We're going in." See my blog, "Crossroads" at http://radicallyauthentic.wordpress.com/2008/10/25/crossroads for more blasphemous conversations with God. Obviously, my Lord knew more of what I needed than I did. So, for me, courage has meant believing in this journey -- even though everything in me screams "You should be concentrating on others and not spending so much time looking at yourself." Yet, God has not moved me from this path. He wants me to learn to love me before I can unconditionally love others. And, this has been the scariest, most narrow way I've ever gone as a Christian. Which calls upon my obedience: believing in God's instruction to remain, to learn to love myself, and to see how my softened heart can reclaim the abundant love too-long hidden amidst the verses in the Bible. Thanks for asking so many juicy questions. Kathy,

I’ve been searching for a way to express the brushy path of belief God has led me through in the last few years. You said it perfectly: “i believe one of the tasks of “the church” moving forward is to really re-claim the beauty & mystery & challenge of the Bible without setting people up for the “i suck & can never pull this off” mentality that i believe is terribly pervasive & often paralyzing.”

For me, trust has meant following God in the opposite direction of where I thought I should go. Three years ago, I quit my job in a bold “Here I Am, Send Me!” kind of way. I sincerely wanted to make myself available for God’s good works. And you know where we headed? Inside me. I remember saying, “No God, you’ve got it wrong. You’re releasing me. We’re not going out. We’re going in.” See my blog, “Crossroads” at http://radicallyauthentic.wordpress.com/2008/10/25/crossroads for more blasphemous conversations with God.

Obviously, my Lord knew more of what I needed than I did. So, for me, courage has meant believing in this journey — even though everything in me screams “You should be concentrating on others and not spending so much time looking at yourself.” Yet, God has not moved me from this path. He wants me to learn to love me before I can unconditionally love others. And, this has been the scariest, most narrow way I’ve ever gone as a Christian.

Which calls upon my obedience: believing in God’s instruction to remain, to learn to love myself, and to see how my softened heart can reclaim the abundant love too-long hidden amidst the verses in the Bible.

Thanks for asking so many juicy questions.

]]> By: karl http://kathyescobar.com/2009/10/12/doubt-faith-new-ways-for-old-words/#comment-2920 karl Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:49:25 +0000 http://kathyescobar.com/?p=2421#comment-2920 i had an additional thought since saturday nights conversation that is often heard in my recovery program: recovery is not about what happens in your head, but what happens with your feet. the idea being that we can process, think, even pray and that is all good, but the real change comes when my feet drag me to a meeting, or into service for someone, or to the phone to make a call. like danny, i crave mercy, and that is empowering. i had an additional thought since saturday nights conversation that is often heard in my recovery program: recovery is not about what happens in your head, but what happens with your feet.
the idea being that we can process, think, even pray and that is all good, but the real change comes when my feet drag me to a meeting, or into service for someone, or to the phone to make a call.

like danny, i crave mercy, and that is empowering.

]]> By: Danny Kam http://kathyescobar.com/2009/10/12/doubt-faith-new-ways-for-old-words/#comment-2919 Danny Kam Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:17:25 +0000 http://kathyescobar.com/?p=2421#comment-2919 It appears that we are writing about similar things at similar times. Definitely adding your site to my google reader. One of the theology professors at my former alma mater recently reminded that we are all in the place we are now, and that we can be in no other places. We can't "Four steps of faith" or "Five thoughts to a happy life" will our way out of where we are. I think of "The Dude" in "The Big Lebowski" (a very Christian movie, imo), and where "the dude abides" simply because he can do no other. This shouldn't inspire apathy, but just the opposite, to truly live where we are, whether faithful or faithless, and ask the God of all mercy to have mercy on us. It appears that we are writing about similar things at similar times. Definitely adding your site to my google reader.

One of the theology professors at my former alma mater recently reminded that we are all in the place we are now, and that we can be in no other places. We can’t “Four steps of faith” or “Five thoughts to a happy life” will our way out of where we are. I think of “The Dude” in “The Big Lebowski” (a very Christian movie, imo), and where “the dude abides” simply because he can do no other.

This shouldn’t inspire apathy, but just the opposite, to truly live where we are, whether faithful or faithless, and ask the God of all mercy to have mercy on us.

]]> By: Mary http://kathyescobar.com/2009/10/12/doubt-faith-new-ways-for-old-words/#comment-2918 Mary Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:41:11 +0000 http://kathyescobar.com/?p=2421#comment-2918 In the past trust in God has always been something I had to figure out how to create with my sheer will. Now in these days, on this journey, I know I can't trust. I want to be one of those people that wakes up every morning and says "Good morning Lord, I love you and look forward to the day with you." But honestly, my day begins with asking God to help me lay down my armor, and let Him in. My morning prayer is that the whiny little brat in me that wants to hurl my bible against the wall and find legitimate reasons not to trust, will be overcome by God. For me, I trust when I choose to lay my armor down. And that is a daily ritual. In the past trust in God has always been something I had to figure out how to create with my sheer will.

Now in these days, on this journey, I know I can’t trust. I want to be one of those people that wakes up every morning and says “Good morning Lord, I love you and look forward to the day with you.” But honestly, my day begins with asking God to help me lay down my armor, and let Him in. My morning prayer is that the whiny little brat in me that wants to hurl my bible against the wall and find legitimate reasons not to trust, will be overcome by God.
For me, I trust when I choose to lay my armor down. And that is a daily ritual.

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