LINNY BEST
Sunday, January 11, 2009
I Have A New Blog
One of the Christmas present Linny got us a few weeks back were our own domain names so we've decided to move away from Blogger to hop on the Typepad train.
Our new little corner of the internet is pretty simple to remember.
www.dalebest.com
and
www.linnybest.com
We're in the process of changing RSS and Feedburner stuff over to the new site. Please bear with us over the next few days as we get this all solved.
If we're on your blogroll with this old address, changing over to our new one would be a huge help. I'll add a redirect on this page sometime during the week.
Our resolution for 2009 was to do more with our blogs and this here is the first step. Thanks for coming along for the journey. ¶ 1/11/2009 10:21:00 PM 0 Comments
Our new little corner of the internet is pretty simple to remember.
www.dalebest.com
and
www.linnybest.com
We're in the process of changing RSS and Feedburner stuff over to the new site. Please bear with us over the next few days as we get this all solved.
If we're on your blogroll with this old address, changing over to our new one would be a huge help. I'll add a redirect on this page sometime during the week.
Our resolution for 2009 was to do more with our blogs and this here is the first step. Thanks for coming along for the journey. ¶ 1/11/2009 10:21:00 PM 0 Comments
Saturday, January 10, 2009
My Boys
...that would be Caedmon spitting up on his Daddy...right in the face. I was laughing so hard, I couldn't help him clean it off! ¶ 1/10/2009 02:46:00 PM 1 Comments
...that would be Caedmon spitting up on his Daddy...right in the face. I was laughing so hard, I couldn't help him clean it off! ¶ 1/10/2009 02:46:00 PM 1 Comments
Productivity Killer
What is it that kills your productivity? I'll admit, lately for me it has been Tetris, more specifically, Facebook Tetris. I find myself playing it every time I sit down at the computer...
For example, today, I should be getting ready for the wedding tonight...I just got out of the shower and I haven't even done my hair...and I'm playing tetris...
(o and when I concentrate, I bite my bottom lip apparently...o, and this picture is copyright protected...so no publishing it someplace friends...)
But hey, all those games I wasted my time playing on the couch have paid off...I guess...
Currently, Dale, who should also be getting ready for the wedding, is on my parents' computer attempting to surpass my Tetris score...unlikely.
¶ 1/10/2009 02:03:00 PM 0 Comments
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
This Irresistible Revolution
Dale gave me a great book for my birthday last year...that would be a whopping 51 weeks ago. I finally finished reading it today. The book is Shane Claiborne's "Irresisbible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical". As I unwrapped it from Dale's Dave Matthews Tour T-shirt that he so elegantly packaged my gift, I read the back cover and the forward and introduction. I couldn't wait to start the book. . . . but I am a terrible reader! I didn't start the book until I was out on maternity leave, pregnant with my boy in September and I finally finished it.
As I read a book, I am taking notes...not mental notes, like most, but actual notes on a bookmark of sorts, capturing thoughts I find in the book or people or quotes, websites, books, articles that I want to reference or visit later. (When I read a Tale of Two Cities in high school, I had a folded yellow sheet of paper completely filled with facts about characters, plot twists, symbolism...I swear, you could pass a test by simply studying that sheet). And this book was no different. I used the back of a picture of my boys that I love...
Here are my thoughts on the theology and revolution that Claiborne so eloquently presents in "Irresistible Revolution."
Give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me my daily bread.
Proverbs 30:8
Looking into the eyes of people who love us may be the clearest glimpse of God many of us get in this world.
It's all about love. Shane Claiborne's life and way of life and daily actions are simply motivated by love. Loving God, loving people, all people and loving himself. And that's what it is all about, simply love. The Simple Way.
We can do not great things, only small things with great love. It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it. - Mother Theresa
This is an amazing quote from an amazing woman. Shane and his housemates have this written above their front door to remind them of Mother Theresa's words.
Today...small things with great love (or don't open the door).
I love that. I think I am going to steal their idea and put that above my door as well. A great reminder of what our daily motivation should be, if we aren't going to love, we might as well climb back in bed.
Shane had a comversation with an athiest and the man told him that Jesus had never talked to a prostitute. Shane prepared to whip out the Scriptures to prove that He in fact had had a conversation with a woman of that reputation and the gentleman stopped him and said
Jesus never talked to a prostitute because he didn't see a prostitute. He just saw a child of God He was madly in love with.
Makes sense, right? Just because someone doesn't believe in Jesus doesn't mean that He can't impact their life, that they don't know anything about Him. His truth is truth and even the demons know the Word of God.
Christians should be troublemakers, creators of uncertainty, agents of a dimension incompatible with society. - Jacques Ellul, French Theologian
Crazy, right? No. If you think about it, what was Jesus? A troublemaker. Everywhere He went there were people wanting to arrest Him or kick Him out of their town. He turned over the tables in the marketplace/temple and that surely made a lot of rich people mad, people who were completely compatible with the society they found themselves in. He went against the grain and was a level above the mainstream and somehow made an enormous impact on people's lives who got it and eventually changed the world. And that's the impact we should strive to have. Seek to change the world. And how do we do that? Be different. Don't try to keep up with the Jones' but keep in line with Jesus. How, you ask? I will simply say it is to love. Simply love. Love can change the world and move mountains and it starts with you. Shane Claiborne challenged me with that through his words in this book.
Shane pointed out a verse that I hadn't seen before (I really need to get in the Word more often, in places I don't usually find myself). Amos 5:21-24 basically says that it is all crap. God gets fed up with us. He wishes we would just stop all the shenanigans that we are engaged in as a church, and simply seek justice. Don't just seek it, but make it, create it, partake in it, be a part of it, share it, be it.
Amos 5:21-24 - The Message
"I can't stand your religious meetings.
I'm fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
your pretentious slogans and goals.
I'm sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image making.
I've had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.
That's what I want. That's all I want.
There is enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed. - Ghandi
Simply put. Ghandi saw need, he experienced poverty, he witnessed riches. And this is what he concluded, that everyone's needs can be met. It can happen, but first, we have to stop being greedy. We have to stop taking and start giving. Love. Give.
The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community (even if its intensions are ever earnest) but the person who loves those around them create community. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
That made me really think, I just read it this morning in the last chapter. Claiborne talked about how we are to love the church, the illegitimate children who are a part of it, and every dysfunctional part of the church. The church is the Bride of Christ and we want to be a part of that. Don't disassociate yourself from the church, become a part of her and love her, she is your Mother. Shane wrote, "I once heard a pastor say, 'The church is like Noah's Ark. It stinks, but if you get out of it, you'll drown.' We are the church. If she were perfect, we'd mess her up as soon as we joined. So may we have some grace, even with those Christians and pastors who make is nauseated and put us to sleep. After all, they have given us enough of the story that we have been able to stumble into God and community." I am guilty of this. I see so many churches that frustrate me, so many church leaders who I feel don't get it and are missing something, I see so many churches whose priorities are not correct and it frustrates me more than I can express. And that is okay. But I should not remove myself from those people. They love God, they just don't think like I do and are missing something. I have to show them what they are missing, I have to be a part of them and love them and love them, love them, love them. That's where it all starts, change starts with relationship, relationship starts with love.
The change that Shane talks about isn't a new concept, in fact, it is an ancient concept brought into today's world. The early church wasn't full of megachurches and church "campuses" it was full of people, meeting in homes, sharing everything they had, and loving everyone. And that is what Claiborne wants to encourage his readers to return to. People. Sharing. Loving. Living.
Labels: irresistable revolution, shane claiborne
¶ 1/07/2009 06:51:00 PM 1 Comments
Saturday, January 3, 2009
My Boy is Getting Older!
Caedmon turned three months old today! Crazy to think!!
¶ 1/03/2009 11:06:00 PM 2 Comments
¶ 1/03/2009 11:06:00 PM 2 Comments
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Poop :: Joys of Parenting
This post is not for the weak. If you're a parent, you will totally understand...if not, you'll find yourself in a similar conversation someday, trust me. You don't have to read on if you don't want to hear about poop...
I never thought I'd partake in actual conversation about puke, poop, gas and snot. Then I became a parent.
We went to my Aunt's house in Joplin, MO for Christmas yesterday. Everyone in the family got to finally meet my boy, Caedmon. It was great to introduce him to everyone and talk to my older, already parents, cousins about babies.
My boy was fussy all day, and obviously working on something in his diaper the whole time, so the conversation soon turned and never seemed to sway from poop.
Caedmon never gave us a dirty diaper, although at one point there was a stink in the living room they everyone blamed on him...I took him into the other room to change his diaper...and nothing. I think it was my dad...
We left at about 6:00 and still...no poop. So I sent Dale out to the store, on Christmas night, to get some Karo syrup to help the baby's tummy along. He called me soon after leaving...Wal-Mart was closed. Reaser's was closed. Walgreens was closed. and QT had no Karo...so he came back home.
And guess what...the boy pooped. Not very much, and actually it was a little runny (he's going to kill me someday for writing this)...it was great, because he had been very hard (like droppin little rocks) for almost a week.
So now we're waiting for it to be normal again... ¶ 12/26/2008 02:49:00 PM 5 Comments
This post is not for the weak. If you're a parent, you will totally understand...if not, you'll find yourself in a similar conversation someday, trust me. You don't have to read on if you don't want to hear about poop...I never thought I'd partake in actual conversation about puke, poop, gas and snot. Then I became a parent.
We went to my Aunt's house in Joplin, MO for Christmas yesterday. Everyone in the family got to finally meet my boy, Caedmon. It was great to introduce him to everyone and talk to my older, already parents, cousins about babies.
My boy was fussy all day, and obviously working on something in his diaper the whole time, so the conversation soon turned and never seemed to sway from poop.
Caedmon never gave us a dirty diaper, although at one point there was a stink in the living room they everyone blamed on him...I took him into the other room to change his diaper...and nothing. I think it was my dad...
We left at about 6:00 and still...no poop. So I sent Dale out to the store, on Christmas night, to get some Karo syrup to help the baby's tummy along. He called me soon after leaving...Wal-Mart was closed. Reaser's was closed. Walgreens was closed. and QT had no Karo...so he came back home.
And guess what...the boy pooped. Not very much, and actually it was a little runny (he's going to kill me someday for writing this)...it was great, because he had been very hard (like droppin little rocks) for almost a week.
So now we're waiting for it to be normal again... ¶ 12/26/2008 02:49:00 PM 5 Comments
