Magnificent (fb, maybe fc now- forgot to post)

Lifelong dream fulfilled Sunday night- a couple of them actually/maybe?

Dream 1:  See U2 live
Dream 2:  OU Stadium filled with a nameless faceless church celebrating Jesus and his kingdom

I haven't fully processed this stuff (imagine that), but my heart is excited by these thoughts:

The theme Sunday night was, "hey Church, be the church!"  It began with a call to worship- about five songs, with comments from the worship leader, all about the greatness of God.  It then entered into a time of acknowledging how hard this life is, how much we need grace, need each other, need to be encouraged.  It ended with a challenge to take love to one another and to the world (John 17).  Everything in a spirit of grace, humility, and courage.  And in a spirit of rock n' roll- which is *** awesome.

It was what celebration should be- almost a "once in a decade" type gathering of the church in a region- extravagant, over the top, loud, excellent, intentional, inclusive, and...beer.

Many times over the past nine years I've walked the campus praying for revival in our state, in Norman, and pictured as if it were happening NOW, this gathering- I just never had a clue as to how it could happen without some evangelical organization and its leaders hyping it, organizing it, telling everyone in advance what was "supposed" to happen, owning it, controlling it, screwing it up.  Something miraculous would have to happen to unify this diverse group- to make it a diverse group.

A miracle has occurred in our lifetime.  Bono and his little band have managed to avoid being identified with American Evangelicalism.  Because of that fact, this ordinary dude from Dublin has the authority to point Presidents, Premiers, Prime Ministers, and Kings toward the Kingdom- with fierce boldness.  He also has the mojo to gather people in stadiums- by the tens of thousands.

Where is the racial diversity?  I wonder if God is doing with Tyler Perry what he has done with Bono?  Who are the other unifiers?  How powerful are the arts for connecting with the heart and uniting?

OK- how do I know it was "the church" gathered.  I don't.  My bible tells me that's not my problem to solve- I'm not the "sorter" as much as my nature wants to be.  I don't know the story of the dude in front of me pounding brew two fists at a time- I know this.  When Bono led Amazing Grace he got it.  Did he walk with Jesus as a child and something was reawakened.  Is he a leader in his church and he never realized that church is a lifestyle that can be lived at U2 concerts?  Is he a broken man who didn't realize that there is hope and that hope has a name?

Still processing...

Where in the world is Sarah Palin? (fc)

In June 2008 Sarah Palin gave a speech at her home church.  The occasion was a graduation of ministry training school students.  I recall watching the video of the speech following her Vice Presidential nomination and thinking:

-       *she loves Jesus and has been discipled well in a great church

-       *her life is surrendered to God with the accompanying sense of “call” on her governorship

-       *she is a humble woman

-       *she has a strong sense about the significance of this moment in our country and of God’s plans for her and for Alaska in  impacting the nation- it’s very prophetic and revivalist in tone

I’m sure that her VP nomination was interpreted (rightly I think) as part of the fulfillment of the vision that God had put in her heart and confirmed through prophetic words.  She probably thought the moment of national revival was imminent and she would be in the middle of it.

Since that time Sarah Palin has endured betrayal, ridicule, loneliness, anger, exhaustion, family turmoil, etc…  Today she is mostly labeled the quitter-governor, bad-mom, foreign policy idiot, hayseed political quack that ultimately couldn’t handle it.

My sense is that God’s hand is on her life and that if she will surrender to the things God wants to do in her heart she won’t believe the things He will do with her life.  She is just getting started.  I don’t know if God wants to use her in politics or what.  My hope is that she won’t get sucked into the Christian speaker club but, rather, she goes for it. 

What is Sarah Palin up to right now?  Last Wednesday she gave a speech to a group of investors in Hong Kong.  The topic?  Foreign policy.  

Tulsa's Greenwood District (fb)

Good article today in the Journal Record.  You cannot understand Oklahoma without understanding this issue.  If we care about city transformation in OKC or Tulsa we have to understand that Oklahoma was the site of perhaps the most heinous act of racism in the history of our country.

Praying FOR city transformation means praying and working AGAINST some things.  To know what those things are requires that we become students of our cities/states/nations.  To be a student of Oklahoma is to see racism as THE primary obstacle to real transformation.

Change always begins with awareness- as we shed light on dark things we bring them into the arena where Kingdom comes.

Dignity in the workplace (fb)

Let's seriously rethink our paradigm about what is and is not "demeaning" work.

Option A:

Hours:  Work the hours you're required to work or the hours you are peer-pressured into working.
Dress:  Wear a goofy uniform (explicit or implied)
Co-workers:  Chosen for you

Work environment:


Option B:

Hours:  Work the hours that accommodate you and your family
Dress:  Comfy
Co-Workers:  You choose
Work Environment:

We're Blooming!

Hair (fb)

Chris Rock was on Oprah the other day talking about his new film.  "If you want to understand black women you have to understand their hair."  And I'm sitting in my bed raising my hand, "that's me, that's me!  I know- er- at least I know more than most white people!"  OK- now I'm gonna say some crazy stuff but hang with me.


There will be a massive move of God among black women all over the world in this generation- first among them- but it will spill over.  The spill over may just ignite the move of God we've prayed for in our generation.  The spill over will look like radical love and forgiveness extended where it isn't deserved- that's called "grace."  But to feel the significance you would first have to understand the offense.  Isn't it just like God to use art, film, comedy to begin to raise awareness of the most marginalized group of people on earth?  Everything a black woman sees and hears tells her she is less than- and her hair is a constant reminder that it takes everything to belong.   The enemy wants to keep a group of people that are characterized by warmth, creativity, and joy locked up in fear and shame.  The love of the Father frees us from our fear, from our shame.  I can't wait to see this film- I hope I laugh all the way through but will be fighting back tears the whole time.

Prezi (fb)

Finally found a non-linear presentation tool- I might be in love.  After using mind-maps for ten years (thank you Jay Lorenzen) it's nice to be able to present it in the way you conceived it.  You might like it too.

These two truths (fb)

Have taken me to the extreme ends of both "hope……….deferred" and "joy unspeakable and full of glory!"

Have cost me at least two careers

Have influenced every major decision that we’ve made for almost twenty years

Inform every aspect of how we invest our time and our money

Have been the foundation of our family life and the dreams we have for our children

Are the cause of much confusion to those who watch us from near and far

Have taken me to a refuge camp on the Iran/Iraq border, to Little Havana, an antebellum plantation, crack-houses, and food courts

Are the direct cause of the varied and genuinely bizarre relationships and relational networks that we both treasure and ponder

Are why he laughed at me on the sidewalk and she looked dumfounded in the atrium

Are why her face lit up and why they cry

Are always the answer to the question, “why?”

Are the things that we’ve staked our future on

Are everything- if they aren’t true we have nothing and are the greatest of fools

Are…
1.  Jesus loves me with “a reckless raging fury"
2.  He still speaks