Sitting outside the airport location of the Salt Lick. Our flight from Austin to Philadelphia is delayed until about noon.
Archive for category News
Airport Barbecue
Aug 1
Austin Recon 3
Jul 28
Gillian and I are going to Austin Wednesday through Saturday to scout neighborhoods, talk to realtors, look at houses, and plan a new church
Forgiveness Update
Jul 27
Really enjoyed sharing the third message of our 3 part series on forgiveness last Sun. Next Sun I will do an excerpt at the BA Cathedral.
Because people asked, here’s a very brief synopsis of part 3:
Truth, BY ITSELF, is a hard stone that hurts and kills. The Lord never “stones” anyone for their mistakes, because he is Mercy itself, and is present in Good, and ONLY in Truth so far as it is wed to Good. If the Lord doesn’t stone people, we shouldn’t, either. Now, when we feel resentment, or feel owed apologies or reparations, or feel anything negative toward someone who has truly wronged us, it is really hard to let go, because we have no direct control over our feelings or our affections. They are too deep. What we CAN at least partially control are our thoughts. So while it’s hard to let go of a feeling, we can instead focus on letting go of an idea that is attached to that feeling, in this case letting go of the truth we are carrying around like a stone: that truth that the person really did hurt us. And forgiving is all about letting go. The Latin “remittere” means both to forgive and to let go.
Here Comes Part Three
Jul 23
“How to Win the Blame Game, Part 3: LET GO”, the final part of my current series: Sun, 7/26, 9:30 a.m, Bryn Athyn Church School auditorium!
Recap of the series so far:
1) “Know When Not to Forgive” – ALWAYS forgive. Forgiveness has three parts: a) you let go of your feelings of resentment and/or of being “owed”; b) the other person repents of any evil they’ve done; c) the Lord works to slowly change them from the inside. You and I cannot repent for someone else, nor can we change them, so all that is left to us is letting go and forgiving.
2) “Follow the Rules of Forgiveness” – There are processes, both internal and external, to help you with forgiveness. Internal process goes like this: a) check to see if you are correct; b) consider what other truths are relevant; and c) look at the situation in light of the big picture and of the general teachings of the Word. If after all that you STILL can’t forgive, then tell yourself that they either don’t know any better, or at the least that they are weak (as we all are), and then you STILL have to forgive.… Read More
This week, part 3 is all about monks, stones, poison and luggage.
Cross Training
Jul 19
I’m regularly amazed by how often advice for stage magicians turns out to also make a lot of sense for preachers.
What am I talking about? Well, consider these principles of good magic I have come across:
- Don’t explain, show.
- NEVER present until you have rehearsed; rehearse until you can present naturally and without hesitation.
- Know what you look like to your audience; rehearse in front of a mirror, or better yet, on video.
- Always respect your audience; don’t “fool” them, delight them!
- Try as much as possible to think “participants”, not “spectators”.
- Have a reason and a rationale for what you are doing; don’t just “do tricks”.
- Don’t do the same trick twice.
- Magic is more about the effect in the other person’s mind than about the “trick” you are doing on stage.
- Knowing how to do a sleight is meaningless without a really good presentation.
- Look where you want them to look, but mostly, look them in the eyes so they will look you in the eyes.
- Be aware that other magicians will evaluate your work differently than normal people.
With just a little thought, one can see how these rules might apply to the art of preaching, too.