Coffee and words, almost.

It's the familiar low ringing in my ears I hear when most is still and quiet, the creaks of the house as the sun rises and begins to warm, the slow of my thoughts in the day just birthing - those are a few of my favorites about early morning. Only faint, non-involved noises run as soundtrack to day beginning. I am free to roam, open to prayer as habitation rather than dictation and more of myself. These wait for me each week, and I rise no matter how heavy my eyes hang. This is where I reset. Here, all which befuddles me throughout the day before is muted in the silence of morning still. The struggle to be someone better is lost in the remembrance of God's simplicity of love and grace, for I am my worst when I fight to be more. In early solitude, before my business begins to color the day, my thoughts recoil to grace and beginning again. I find my footing again in the path already beaten for me. My hands aren't clinched to, readied to fight, but open prepared to receive what is truly needed for the hours ahead, all the hours until I lay my head down again exhausted. 

Here, in the earliest of my day, my prayer is simple: "may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight." 

This I know to be true: what I permit to thrive in my heart fills my words and moves my hands. So in quiet, settled there on my couch or outside with the birds singing praise, my heart is surgically cut free and cleaned again in the habitation of grace and acceptance.

As for the articles, well here are a few I've enjoyed recently:

And perhaps, you've heard of a particular disease scare that's affected the neighborhoods surrounding where we live. No? Well, read here.

With that, we'll soon be out of the door to enjoy great music and the great fall-ish weather here in Dallas. Here's to an amazing weekend for you as well!

Coffee and words, almost.

Today is the first seasonably cool day. In regular good ole Texas fashion, storm clouds gathered and waited at the starting line until pushing through with quick fury, angry at the dried, sparse Texan ground. Rain showered down at pushed angles carried by wind determined to push through quickly. And here we are enjoying our first Fall feeling day. The heat won't relent, though, as our forecast shows 80's again tomorrow and in the week ahead.

I'm celebrating the cooler temps though, sleeping later, moving slower and actually drinking a full cup of coffee this morning. Good times, indeed, as I read this morning.

What's not to love about creating your own band. You're welcome.

I loved reading about this year's Nobel Peace Prize winners - amazing folks doing amazing things.

Perhaps, eschatological arguments are how you pass a good time. If so, you may enjoy this read as well ...or maybe not.

Also, you should consider purchasing this book. I contributed an essay to it.

And as you close your web browser, go out with some (anti) digital inspiration.

FATHER FACTOR: AMERICAN CHRISTIAN MEN ON FATHERHOOD AND FAITH

FATHER FACTOR: AMERICAN CHRISTIAN MEN ON FATHERHOOD AND FAITH is a collection of essays bound into book. These essays were pinned by men who shared their thoughts, enamored memories, crushing defeats and forward falling hopes - their stories faith blending and shaping their perspective on what it is to be a father.

When I first signed on with the project, I was drawn to the diversity of men searched for and ultimately chosen as contributors. Why? Simple. Because I have much to learn as a father and a long way to go to get to where I’d like to be as a father whose “children will be like olive shoots around the table.” I may not share the same perspective as every contributor, may even be challenged in some areas, but one thing’s certain: I can find God in the details of every story. And I have more of a responsibility to find God in all things, in all places where He will be found, than to only find Him only in my defined, comfortable context.

I’ve read through these collection of essays, journeyed with men haunted by the past, broken by hurts, unsure about the present, and yet, hopeful throughout. Their hope given cause by our God who loves perfectly; his love, absent of the slightest fear and able to withstand our hurts and our own failings.

I’m proud to stand with these diverse gentlemen, and I’d like to invite you to read our stories, spy our Heavenly Father in the mirk and mire, forget about what makes a father good and learn of our Father’s goodness unending.

I’ve learned many things about myself as a father thus far, but one thing remains central: “thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.” Holding the Lord above all parenting strategies, struggles, defeats, small successes and ideas of fathering, tempers a right attitude and reminds me that no matter how learned I become, God always must and should be the One leading.

Father Factor releases for purchase next week, October 14th, but this week only, our publisher is offering a 35% discount for all pre-orders.

Here’s a link for you to purchase: Father Factor: American Christian Men on Fatherhood and Faith

(*Psalm 128, ESV)

Satan, Free Will and The Center.

IT'S A STORY REALLY.

Words, places, events, characters - men and women, kings, queens and empires, heartache and triumph and you and me - true as the straightest line continuing beyond sight and forever and as ancient as the first man, and then some.

Always. That’s the story.

There is good, and there certainly is bad. Always will be. That is, until we reach the end, just as every proper story has an end. And at the funeral of death, we will all sing in blended, indistinguishable symphony. Good will stand unopposed in the sight of God and so will the once hopeful, the lasted, the lovers and the leaders, the choosers and the chosen: the whole of the redeemed.

So goes our stretching conversations . . .or something close to that.

I often wonder how our daughters see the world and who they’ll be as they age in the years ahead. A parent can only do so much as pray and hope that the love practiced and the words spoken dig roots into their hearts.

A People of Differences.

THERE ARE FEW ISSUES current within our culture that absolutely give certain promise to define the Church and Christians of tomorrow - race and class divisions, individualism and sexuality. Perhaps the continual swell of homosexuality will serve as the most defining, or redefining.

By and large, the Church has not established a good track record in its response to those with a different sexual orientation. As part of the Church - that being the body of Christ - I have held a cold ear to those speaking contrary to my understanding of Scripture’s instruction in regard to homosexuality. And therein lies the problematic divide unable to be crossed in my heart: love trailing response. I think the same, or similar, holds true for many within the Church, as well. At the core of every human being is the desire to belong and to be accepted: to be loved for who they are and in the exactness of where they stand. We all want this for ourselves despite the dirtiness of our heart - the lying heart, the glutton heart, the drunken heart, the disillusioned heart, the selfish heart and the self-righteous heart, as well as the unloving heart.

In the life of Jesus, we see a choosing love reframing law, undeterred by the filth of our human hearts, juxtaposed with an invitation for our hearts to choose love in response. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”* This invitation is universal to all, to anyone, as well as personal. We must each accept the invitation and choose to follow. This choosing leads me into his footsteps where judging opposes love. And I must remind myself, love invading my heart inverts all that would reject others as primary response. As a follower of Christ, my heart must be bent to God’s love and his business within the hearts of others.

So at the bottom of it all, Scriptural instruction leads me to disagree with homosexual behavior but love seeks to accept every person and is not cautious of variances foreign to me and my beliefs. There are those beautiful within my life who care for me and my family's well-being. They are creative, brave, inspiring on levels and homosexual. I am no better because these friendships exist. What I am is learning to love well and to follow Christ purer. I'm thankful for my friends simply because they are my friends. Our differences and understandings can exist without threatening Love's business in both of our lives. Love is bold to pursue each of us to any length. If love trails response, then I limit it and dangerously hold it contemptuously. May we, who accept and bear the name of Jesus, always be more so concerned with following closely that we allow his love to continue his own redemptive work of this broken, fragmented world that we all belong to . . . for now, at least.

*(Luke 9:23, ESV)

Coffee and words, almost.

DAY 22.

WITH THE DETOX CLEANSE finally complete and all seems right in my world again. Three weeks full of experimental veggie smoothies, vegetable bullied meals and snacks too green for my liking. The liking took about a week and then I began to appreciate eating a meal and feeling satisfied in the right kind of way, rather than eating too much of the wrong types of food (bread, meat, grains, sugar) to feel full. Beyond this cleanse, me and the Mrs., plan to continue a eating plan consisting of a majority of greens accompanied by a minority enjoyment of clean meat, fish and fruit. I'm rather looking forward to it, too. 

And I should say, we woke very early for a Saturday morning to watch Chloe run in circles for her first soccer match, all without the help of coffee. Still later into the morning, no coffee. I don't need it. For the first time maybe ever, I can enjoy coffee for its goodness, not its caffeine. So I'll have a cup at some point, maybe this morning, but when I'm ready.

Yes, this detox has created a new normal I'm growing very fond of. 

Here are a few links that I've enjoyed reading. I hope you enjoy them as well.

Cheers to the weekend, friends!