Posts Tagged: "creativity"

every event carries the hidden possibility post

Every Event Carries The Hidden Possibility Of A Word From God

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

*Photo above: Rhythm & blues recording artist Liz Vice at NWLife, May 2017

My little family of three has this dinner-time conversation on a regular basis—it’s usually prompted by my wife… she will ask, “Where did you see God today?” The question could be asked a number of ways: How did you see God today? What experience brought you closer to God today? What reminded you of God today? What did God whisper to you today? 

There is no right or wrong answer. That’s not the point. The point is to share those encounters, experiences, thoughts, and feelings that somehow made us mindful of our Creator.

When Liz Vice came to sing at our church’s annual Together Nights last month, it was one of those… Read More

SOREN POST

Daily Rituals

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

Shari checked out a library book for me the other day called Daily Rituals: How Artists Work. It’s a fun book I’ve enjoyed reading. One of the highlighted “artists” was Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, and social critic. Here’s what the book had to say about his daily ritual…

The Danish philosopher’s day was dominated by two pursuits: writing and walking. Typically, he wrote in the morning, set off on a long walk through Copenhagen at noon, then returned to his writings for the rest of the day into the evening.

The walks were where he had his best ideas, and sometimes he would be in such a hurry to get them down that, returning home, he would write standing up before his desk, still wearing his hat and gripping his walking stick or umbrella.

Kierkegaard kept up his energy with coffee, usually… Read More

sunday shout outs 2015

Shouting About These Three

- - Guest Posts, Life With God, Uncategorized

On Sundays I like to share, you know, a few shout-outs. So today I’m shouting about these three… great posts I appreciated this past week. Hope you enjoy!

Amena Brown POST

1. This post: What To Do When The Idea Won’t Show Up by Amena Brown. Here’s my favorite line(s):

“Creative ideas are funny creatures. They are more like cats than puppies.

They will most likely not jump up and down when they see you; tail wagging, wanting your attention.

They notice when you arrive at the page/screen/studio, walk by you, rub against your leg, and then jump on the kitchen counter, then on top of the refrigerator and stare at you. Laughing. Proving to you that you will not control them.”

Amena continues with a few practical points on what to do when… Read More

imagination

Have We Lost Our Imagination?

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

I recently said, “I think compassion is a muscle and the church has atrophy. Time to build some muscle.”

Another muscle withering away due to neglect is imagination.

We have lost our imagination.

I think this happens because we are so easily tempted to mimic, copy, follow, and accept status quo as reasonable and good enough.

In the church it happens like this: we look to another church in some other part of the state or country that is considered successful because of one or more of the “B’s” – buildings, budgets, and butts-in-seats. We esteem these other churches as having or being something that we also should have or be. We podcast them. We fly over to them and scribble notes about everything we see and hear. We meet with their leaders to get their secret recipes. And then we bring it home to our state, city, neighborhood.

This whole thing reeks of a lack of imagination.

What ever happened to… Read More