PPM – The Sacrifices Acceptable to God
I’ve decided to change it up a bit this Monday and include the below video along with this series of posts about an affair.
“Return to me,” declares the LORD Almighty, “and I will return to you.” - Zechariah 1:3
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.- Psalm 51:17
PPM – Planting Seeds
Another story about death bringing life: The Sunflower Boy’s Smile
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. – John 12:24
PPM – Climbing Rainbows
On select Mondays, I’ll link to a post that I consider powerful. These will be a roundup of stories from around the web.
There is an old hymn that had some lyrics changed. The words went from “I climb the rainbow in the rain” to “I trace the rainbow through the rain”.
I like the imagery of the first version much better.
Still, I can’t shake the fact that a rainbow is impossible to climb. It’s looks pretty, but there is no substance to it. How can you climb a rainbow? You can struggle your heart out, but you won’t get anywhere. You might even get to the base of the illusory thing only to see it disappear. Climbing rainbows sounds nice and all, but I can’t think of a greater exercise in futility.
There is a scripture in the Bible that talks about groping for God. Grope for God. Can you picture this as a slogan on Christian T-Shirts and Bumper Stickers? When I hear the word “grope”, God isn’t the first or even second or third thing that comes to mind. And, doesn’t this sound more than just a little bit ridiculous? How can you grope for what you can’t see? How do you touch what you can’t feel? How can you reach for something that isn’t there?
I suppose it only makes sense that the senselessly blind and brokenhearted man who wrote about climbing rainbows was also groping for the promise of a tearless morning when all that is wrong, bad, evil, sad, crushing and sick would be washed away.
* * *
It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these PPM’s. It’s been so long because I haven’t found much that I consider worthy of your time. This week’s story changed my mind and can be found here.
Jami Dawn Kennedy recently had a baby daughter. The little girl’s name is Jo. As they remember Joe Kennedy, I have the feeling that both of them will be climbing rainbows.
PPM – Time after Time
On select Mondays, I’ll link to a post that I consider powerful. These will be a roundup of stories from around the web. Please contact me if you have ideas for future editions.
Columnist J.A. Adande had this to tweet after Sunday’s sporting events:
Enjoy days like Sunday, with Roger Federer and Tiger Woods both on top of their game. They won’t last forever.
There is nothing especially profound about this statement. Of course nothing lasts forever. It doesn’t always seem like that, though. Oftentimes, it seems that things will always be the way they are.
Some things change so slowly, they hardly seem to change at all. I’ve never seen my fingernails grow, but they do get a bit long sometimes. Somehow, they go from being clipped to needing to be clipped again. Time seems to pass so slowly, but it still passes.
I can’t notice any changes in how I look from day to day, but I see pictures from the past and can’t believe how young I looked. My not being able to tell a difference doesn’t mean that nothing has happened.
And, oftentimes with life, things don’t seem to be going anywhere. Still, often without even realizing it, things do change.
My favorite singer/songwriter had an old song that never made it to one of his albums. He wrote about the wave of emotion that unexpectantly overcame him as he drove through the town he grew up in. He doesn’t sing the song anymore and the lyrics are nowhere to be found, but a few of the lines went something like this:
And it seems to me the earth turns so quiet, we pretend it’s standing still. And it’s time I learned that it’s time to live and there ain’t no time to kill… I saw the days of my youth, so bright like a Monticello Moon that waxed and waned and went away too soon. But the moon has come and gone, so I’m thinking I’ll get along. The moon has come and gone, so I had better be moving on.
It’s not good to get stuck in the past, but I do think that looking at the past can teach us a lot about enjoying the present. After all, today could be the day that another day you will tell stories about and long for.
PPM – Barely Hanging On
This week’s post is written by a guy who is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. Kelly Clarkson has provided the intro:
Seems like just yesterday
You were a part of me
I used to stand so tall
I used to be so strong.
Your arms around me tight
Everything it felt so right
Unbreakable like nothing could go wrong
Now I can’t breath no I can’t sleep
I’m barely hanging on…
It is written for those who are doing all they can just to hold on. It also for those who have already let go.
PPM – The Least of These
Dear Friends,
Our second installment of PPM comes from a blogger named Amber. I stumbled across her blog one day while looking for lyrics to the song “Swept Away” and was very impressed with her writing. Since then, we’ve sort of become Internet friends. I had this same post linked a while back, but I don’t think many people had a chance to read it and linking to it again. Here is this week’s post. I think you’ll agree that the story has a lot to teach us all.
In case you missed it, here was last week’s post.
Please contact me if you have an idea for a post that might be appropriate for this space. This could be from your personal blog or another blog that you read.
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’” – Matthew 25:40
PPM – Help in time of need
Now that the website has (finally) been fully integrated, it’s time to roll out some new content. I’ve decided on a new feature that I’m calling “Powerful Post Monday” – or PPM for short. On select Mondays, I’ll link to a blog post that I consider powerful. These will be a roundup of stories from around the web.
Our first post comes from a friend of mine who plays basketball and writes movies. He’s one of those guys who you want to get to know now in order that you can say that you followed him before he became famous.
His post is titled “The First Time God Failed Me”. I don’t want to give too much away, so I will simply say that I never would have linked to this story if I didn’t think it was more than worth your time. It was also part of the inspiration for the new section of this blog. Here is his post.
Please contact me if you have an idea for a post that might be appropriate for this space. This could be from your personal blog or another blog that you read.