Loving, Learning, and Leading

It all begins with Pain "The paradox indeed is that the beginning of healing is in the solidarity with the pain... the wanting to alleviate pain without sharing it is like wanting to save a child from a burning house without the risk of being hurt." Henri Nouwen, from his book Reaching out: Three movements of the Spiritual life. The core questions of life, ministry, mission, and even hope center around how we deal with pain: our pains, the pains of others, our culture's pain, even humanity's pain. How we deal, or in many instances, refuse to deal with these pains paints a picture of our vitality and what it truly means to live. I have shared many times with many people that God began to deal with me several years ago about this concept of wanting to extinguish pain without actually entering into to it. I had always grown up with the concept as a healthy understanding of healing and service. However, as I desire to follow the ultimate healer more closely, I ...

Learning at the YMCA This past week, the Traylor family joined the local YMCA in Penfield, NY. It happens to be one of the nicest looking YMCA's that I have ever seen. We began our "return to fitness" program yesterday, and God took the opportunity to teach me a few things that have been ruminating in my mind. 1. Perseverance in a discipline require momentum. Momentum is that feeling that we all experience when we are eagerly anticipating an activity and have a measure of confidence that we will actually successfully accomplish our goals. Momentum requires movement in the same direction (the scientific formula for momentum is mass x velocity, where velocity is movement in one direction). Paradoxically, the more we engage in a discipline, the more momentum we develop and the easier and more enjoyable it becomes. We often quit before momentum develops. Think about this with any discipline that you have desired to have, whether it be exercising, Bible reading, or pra...

The Politics of the Rich man and Lazarus Its been a while since I have blogged and I thought I would get things started again by looking at a common Biblical story that has some significant ramifications in how we see one another and the role of society in general: Luke 16:19- 19"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell,[ c ] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' 25"But Abraham replied, 'So...