A near-perfect grandma day: Sitting in those butt-numbing chairs in an 76 db McDonald’s Playland, watching your almost four-year-old grandson run and laugh, then going to the grocery store and letting said grandson sit in the front of one of those mutant shopping carts that looks like a fire engine while you shop, then watching some hideous cartoons on TV (when did newer cartoons become so visually ugly? And why?), then going to church with grandpa where the child hated the loud worship music but loved the bright kids’ area, then hanging out together blowing bubbles at dusk before I tucked him into bed with a story and a prayer.
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Best post I’ve read in a long time: This Cerulean Sanctum entry, discussing the constant complaining about one another in the body of Christ going on in the blogosphere, over radio airwaves, in print and most especially, in person. I was simultaneously convicted by this entry (God knows I do more than my share of carping) and cheered (Dan Edelen’s intelligent analysis is almost always fiber-rich food for thought).
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Dumb idea: Going to Taste of Chicago on a 97 degree day while on a new heavy-duty diuretic.
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Most under-used resource in my life: extended time with God. I discovered again in Kansas City how powerful it is to simply sit all day with an open Bible, a journal, and a desperate and impoverished soul. I read through Leviticus – an unusual choice, to say the least, but I felt strongly that this is where God wanted me during my time there.
Author Chris Tiegreen writes about Leviticus in his book Creative Prayer: “Sometime during a reread of that strange legal document, I began to smell the smell of sacrifice. The vision of a constant stream of blood flowing from that altar began to impact me. The aroma of incense, the sound of bleating, and the hazy air rising from burning flesh filled my disturbed heart. The busy rituals of preparation seemed to say to me over and over again that there was once a vast, tragic rift between me and my God, and there are two things I can never, ever take casually: my sin and his holiness.”
In a place like the International House of Prayer, where there is so much worship going on, maybe Leviticus is exactly where I needed to be, for exactly the reasons Tiegreen describes.
Michelle,
Thanks for the link to my post at Cerulean Sanctum on glass houses of worship.
Thanks for the links I will definitely check them out.
Hey Dee – how cool to have you visit. I’m really enjoying your posts on The Master’s Artist!