tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81439747579645965682024-02-19T02:45:30.608-08:00Pink CouchCarolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11144177907870386097noreply@blogger.comBlogger82125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-90869938283006575052016-09-27T09:44:00.000-07:002016-09-27T10:02:20.393-07:00Friends<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sometimes I think about what I have done in life. I haven’t really accomplished much - but this I have done: I have made friends. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My friends are my treasures. I am really grateful for them. I know that with a friend I am just me: i don’t have to try to be smarter or more competent than I am, or have things figured out. I know that they like me. They get me. I liken it to sending off sparks: I send out these sparks - ideas, thoughts, intuitive leaps … and my friends catch them and send them back instead of extinguishing them. One of my friends even made me a sweatshirt with sparks embroidered on it …. That’s how much she got me. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And I don’t have to put on the right face for my friends. Through some really dark, despairing times, my friends stayed in it with me, even when I was inconsolable. It’s a hard place to be, staying with someone when there is absolutely nothing you can do or say. When I couldn’t see God at all - I saw them, there with me. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today a friend (oh, such a treasured friend!) shared something about Moses and Abraham being friends of God “The Lord used to speak to Abraham face to face as a man speaks to his friend.” And one of my favorite verses, John 15: “I have called you friends, because everything the Father has made known to me, I have made known to you.” I like that! Jesus sending out sparks. Telling us what is really important to him. Inviting us to be in it with him. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I want to envision God more like a friend. Sometimes I get so messed up with expectations (you are GOD, so FIX this!) or being afraid of disapproval (still!) or looking for “intimacy”. (OK, I admit it right now, I don’t think I get what “intimacy” with God even means!) But friends… I do get that. I can be friends. </span></div>
<br />Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03419165206590953667noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-2815410612399967722016-08-06T08:17:00.000-07:002016-08-06T08:17:59.407-07:00More of the Backstory...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While the Pope was at Auschwitz, he visited the cell of Maximillian Kolbe. Father Kolbe had a vision for using the mass media to reach Poland with the message of Jesus. He built a friary just west of Warsaw, which eventually housed 762 Franciscans and printed eleven periodicals, one with a circulation of over a million, including a daily newspaper. Here is more of his story...and the link between Kolbe and why we were at World Youth Day...*</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maximillian Kolbe</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1930 he went to Asia, where he founded friaries in Nagasaki and in India. In 1936 he was recalled to supervise the original friary near Warsaw. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, he knew that the friary would be seized, and sent most of the friars home. He was imprisoned briefly and then released, and returned to the friary, where he and the other friars began to organize a shelter for 3,000 Polish refugees, among whom were 2,000 Jews.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br class="kix-line-break" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The friars shared everything they had with the refugees. They housed, fed and clothed them, and brought all their machinery into use in their service. Inevitably, the community came under suspicion and was watched closely. Then in May 1941 the friary was closed down and Maximilian and four companions were taken to the death camp Auschwitz, where they worked with the other prisoners.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-91a1155f-6057-146d-d4f3-2cd609cc1a1b" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br /><b id="docs-internal-guid-91a1155f-6057-146d-d4f3-2cd609cc1a1b" style="font-weight: normal;"></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“n the harshness of the slaughterhouse Father Kolbe maintained the gentleness of Christ. At night he seldom would lie down to rest. He moved from bunk to bunk, saying: "I am a Catholic priest. Can I do anything for you?" A prisoner later recalled how he and several others often crawled across the floor at night to be near the bed of Father Kolbe, to make their confessions and ask for consolation. Father Kolbe pleaded with his fellow prisoners to forgive their persecutors and to overcome evil with good. When he was beaten by the guards, he never cried out. Instead, he prayed for his tormentors.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“In order to discourage escapes, Auschwitz had a rule that if a man escaped, ten men would be killed in retaliation. In July 1941 a man from Kolbe's bunker escaped. The ten were selected, including Franciszek Gajowniczek, imprisoned for helping the Polish Resistance. He couldn't help a cry of anguish. 'My poor wife!' he sobbed. 'My poor children! What will they do?' When he uttered this cry of dismay, Maximilian stepped silently forward, took off his cap, and stood before the commandant and said, 'I am a Catholic priest. Let me take his place. I am old. He has a wife and children.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Astounded, the icy-faced Nazi commandant asked, 'What does this Polish pig want?'</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Father kolbe pointed with his hand to the condemned Franciszek Gajowniczek and repeated 'I am a Catholic priest from Poland; I would like to take his place, because he has a wife and children.' Amazingly, he acceded to the request. Franciszek Gajowniczek was returned to the ranks, and the priest took his place …</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Father Kolbe was thrown down the stairs of Building 13 along with the other victims and simply left there to starve. Maximilian Kolbe encouraged the others with prayers, psalms, and meditations on the Passion of Christ. After two weeks, only four were alive. The cell was needed for more victims, and the camp executioner, a common criminal called Bock, came in and injected a lethal dose of carbolic acid into the left arm of each of the four dying men. Kolbe was the only one still fully conscious and with a prayer on his lips, the last prisoner raised his arm for the executioner. His wait was over … </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQk6rykCxUnmsu3dJJTzkiE3YAdAP6dmLgbNczX4UZ8EM-jbIPHWXLw_NEOlRxejAiPC9su49pPPk__jK8PipWNTUbFSDbey0k96CNTm3PPsl1_F5GvIbmc_7cHxFooh_J21vRVbBYdELY/s1600/Blachnicki.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQk6rykCxUnmsu3dJJTzkiE3YAdAP6dmLgbNczX4UZ8EM-jbIPHWXLw_NEOlRxejAiPC9su49pPPk__jK8PipWNTUbFSDbey0k96CNTm3PPsl1_F5GvIbmc_7cHxFooh_J21vRVbBYdELY/s320/Blachnicki.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Franciszek Blachnicki</td></tr>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One witness of this was a young resistance fighter named Franciszek Blachnicki. When he saw what Kolbe did, he wondered “why would a man give his life for someone he doesn’t even know? That question led him to put his faith in Jesus. He survived Auschwitz and became a Catholic priest. Like Father Kolbe, Father B was a visionary. He started a movement among young people which by 1980 had about 80,000 young people coming to camps every summer. Like Father Kolbe, Father B had a vision for what he called “The Great Evangelization” - “to reach out with the gospel to every person in Poland.” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When he met Joe, an American student who had been a leader in Campus Crusade, he asked if Campus Crusade would send people and materials. When he saw the Jesus film, he determined to have it shown in every parish in Poland through his network of priests and volunteers. Films, projectors and a complete printing press were smuggled into Poland. It is estimated that 7 million people saw the film, shown in parishes, on university campuses, and even in the Gdansk shipyards during the Solidarity strikes. The vitality and personal faith we witnessed in the Polish church is largely due to Father B and to his friend, Pope John Paul II. **</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Father B. was in on a trip to Germany when martial law was declared and he was not allowed to return to Poland. He died in Germany in 1987. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>When Father Kolbe offered to give his life in exchange for another, he had no idea that watching him was a man who would take up his vision. He simply followed his Master in laying down his life. That is how the gospel works. When we follow Jesus, we have no idea of the implications, no idea of how God may use our obedience, large of small to fulfill his dream - and ours. </b></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzbspuF2LEmUcgBxTvl2yJbUwUdTe4_QqwFct9ybG6qwxcNQm5w3O5NyAqGF6ECXYucwKtCfDF8JlWHxqfiPOWg9xIUMpaM8xcXhlmrlGAUqO5-Dm1k9aGKI1ACi5b10G_ASufvT_zUuVE/s1600/13662370_10154490084203846_280122516658945007_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzbspuF2LEmUcgBxTvl2yJbUwUdTe4_QqwFct9ybG6qwxcNQm5w3O5NyAqGF6ECXYucwKtCfDF8JlWHxqfiPOWg9xIUMpaM8xcXhlmrlGAUqO5-Dm1k9aGKI1ACi5b10G_ASufvT_zUuVE/s400/13662370_10154490084203846_280122516658945007_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teams from Russia and the Northwest at World Youth Day, Krakow2016</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; text-align: right; white-space: pre-wrap;">*http://www.fatherkolbe.com/content1.html</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; text-align: right; white-space: pre-wrap;">** See also </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Pope We Never Knew: The unknown story of how John Paul II ushered Campus Crusade into Catholic Poland.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/may/13.34.html</span><br />
<span id="docs-internal-guid-91a1155f-6066-aa76-8e6d-29e855a8c452"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03419165206590953667noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-37361001639824208862016-07-20T11:55:00.000-07:002016-07-20T11:55:04.439-07:00World Youth Day! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have a crazy plan to tell you about … but it needs some backstory!</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-18d85967-09a4-6764-62d5-257f89c4ffc8" style="clear: left; float: left; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img alt="IMG_0788 - Edited.jpg" height="220" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/QS5Vo2U4XHZsoFJF1njPZAxLODu6Z8yHjptVPef6Educ9niNJbe9yJ5ZdoponuOpmZ8P6xYsUXG3GaYgkQFkm_ngjLvZ_wNL8u8GfdRACd9vWXBAYHWzr8vY_hpf_lvFbzZTKGM1" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="294" /></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Terry and I went to work in Eastern Europe in 1980 (Weren’t we cute? And that hair!) . Our first assignment (one week after we landed in Vienna!) was to travel to Communist Poland to meet with a priest named Franciszek Blachnicki.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “Father B” had come to faith while imprisoned in Auschwitz for his role in the Polish resistance. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He survived Auschwitz and became a Catholic priest with a vision for reaching all of Poland with a renewal of faith in Christ.He started a movement of young people called Oaza (Oasis). In 1974, he </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">met Joe, a Cru student studying in Poland, who showed him the “Four Spiritual Laws.” “ We need this!” said Father B. “Can you send people to help us?” That was the beginning of a cooperation that resulted in thousands coming to Christ. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By the time we met Father B in the summer of 1980 there were about 80,000 students coming to camps, hearing the gospel and being trained with our Bible study and evangelism materials - all under the noses of the Communist government! One summer team brought a copy of the film “Jesus” with them, got caught by the police with the film and expelled from the country. They went instead to Rome to show the film to Father B’s good friend from seminary, Karl Wojtyla … otherwise known as Pope John Paul II! He gave it his approval, which opened the way for the film’s use in Catholic countries.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our job was to help Father B to show “Jesus” (which had been translated into Polish) in every parish in Poland. He needed films, projectors … and 20 million copies of the gospel of Luke! Terry devised some clever ways to get those into Poland … including having an entire printing press smuggled in. His skills went to good use as he put it back together and set up a secret printing operation in the attic of a rectory. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is 40 years this summer since the first Cru team went to Poland… and because of that connection, I have a unique opportunity this summer! </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The 2016 World Youth Day, a massive rally of youth with Pope Francis , will take place this summer in Kracow, Poland. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The archbishop of Kracow has asked Cru to come as official volunteers to do evangelism among the 3 million spiritually interested youth from 187 countries who will gather in Kracow. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And I was asked to lead a team from the Northwest to join with Cru students from a number of countries to volunteer. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It really is a crazy plan </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">… but I have sensed that this is something that God is inviting me into. I am always talking to students, telling them not to be afraid (fear seems to be a big problem with this generation of students) but to follow Jesus! And I felt that this is a time when I need to go - in spite of my fears. I told the Lord that I would go if 10 people would go with me … </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have a group of 17</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> … including two students who were refugees from Iraq … a couple of Polish speakers, a seminary professor, a digital media maven, and some younger staff. And … our son Dan is bring a team of Russians as well! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> please pray!</span><span style="font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This is all daunting to me - and I need prayer! </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The dates are July 22-August 1. Please pray that all will go well at home with my mom and Laura. I find that often when I am about to go on a ministry trip - things happen. </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Alegreya; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pray that we would all encounter Jesus as we follow him in this, and that He will lead us to the people who need to hear the gospel personally in that vast crowd. He knows them… </span></div>
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Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03419165206590953667noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-8172826834327182432014-12-02T09:26:00.000-08:002014-12-02T09:26:58.631-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ten Commandments for Mature Living #7</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Live in a more radical sobriety.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Maturity does not mean that we are perfect or faultless, but that we are honest.” </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-1cfb4999-0c07-02bf-38b1-92f921cf27ee" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I have had occasion to talk to people who go to AA meetings, this is what is striking: the emphasis on honesty. Admitting to the truth about yourself. Being desperate enough to stop trying to cover it up. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don’t know of any practice more necessary for human maturity than confession: radical honesty. Instead of admitting to the truth about ourselves we tend to blame someone else, make excuses, lower our standards, or feel guilty and try to do better. None of those are confession; simply admitting what is true of us, standing there in the light of God. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wonder what would happen if we began our church small groups with “Hi, my name is Carolyn, and I am a sinner.” </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. “ </span></div>
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Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03419165206590953667noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-16825823150671732672014-11-20T08:22:00.000-08:002014-11-20T08:22:16.720-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 28px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ten Commandments for Mature Living #6</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bless more and curse less! </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The mark of a deeply mature man or woman, the mark of a very mature disciple of Jesus, and the mark of someone truly giving their life away is this: he or she is a person who blesses others and blesses the world, just as God does and just as Jesus did.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-0cc46199-cdfd-df84-a94b-f46b2278be10" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">..</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.to bless someone is to see and admire that person, to speak well of him or her, and give away some of your life so that he or she might have more life.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blessing by seeing is one of the deep archetypal functions of all royalty, all parents, and all who lead others in any way: God blessed the world by seeing it… Normally blessings work from the top down, from those who have more power to those who have less… Young people may not overtly want the blessing of their elders -but they desperately need it.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I just finished JK Rowlings first novel for adults, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Casual Vacancy</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. (Warning: it has graphic and disturbing parts, and therefore I do not recommend it for everyone.) I liked it a lot - (I finished it Sunday afternoon instead of taking my usual nap and walk in Washington Park! ) and I think this is why: It is a novel that sees people. It takes you beyond the surface to see people as they are. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the characters, Krystal, is a foul mouthed, promiscuous, angry 16 year old girl. Krystal has grown up with an addicted mother in “The Fields” - a drug and crime ridden housing estate. Her life is portrayed in unvarnished realism. The novel opens with the death of the one person who ever really who blessed her - who saw her, saw something admirable in her, who spoke well of her and gave away his life so that she might have more life. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Barry Fairbrother came to the high school to put together a girls rowing team. He brought a rowing machine and asked for volunteers. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Krystal Weedon”, said Barry, pointing at her. “I’ve seen you dangling off the monkey bars down the park; that’s proper upper body strength you've got there. Come and give it a go.”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Krystal ...swaggered up to the machine and sat down … heaved on the handle, making a stupid face… “Look at that!” Barry had said. “She’s a natural. Straighten your back. Thats it. Pull … pull… have you done this before?” Then Krystal really had straightened her back, and she really had done it properly….She hit a rhythm. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Excellent!” said Barry. “Look at that, excellent! That’s how you do it!”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What was it that Barry had? He was always so present, so natural, so entirely without self-consciousness. Teenagers …. were riven with the fear of ridicule. Those who were without it, and God knows there were few enough of them in the adult world, had natural authority among the young…</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But at the end of the exhibition, when Barry asked those who were interested in trying out for the team to raise their hands, Krystal kept her arms folded. Barry carefully noted down the names of the interested girls, then looked up.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“And you, Krystal Weedon,’” he said pointing at her. “You're coming too. Don’t you shake your head at me. I’ll be very annoyed if I don’t see you. That’s natural talent I see there. I don’t like to see natural talent wasted.”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Had Krystal thought about her natural talent as she showered at the end of the lesson? Had she carried the thought of her new aptitude around with her that day, like an unexpected Valentine? … to the amazement of all, except perhaps Barry, Krystal had turned up at tryouts… Barry had liked Krystal. He had seen in her things that were invisible to other people’s eyes.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sacred Fire</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Rolheiser writes:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In summary,we bless others when we </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">see </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">them, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">delight</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in their energy rather than feel threatened by it, and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">give away some of our own life to help resource their lives.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Sadly, the reverse is also true: we curse others when we demand that they see and admire us, when we demand that they speak well of us, and when we use their lives to build up our own. A gesture of blessing feeds others; a cursing gesture feeds off of them.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Krystal, who had only ever been cursed, was, for once, blessed.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Bless more and curse less!”</span></div>
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Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11144177907870386097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-47294500710073025432014-11-14T09:10:00.001-08:002014-11-14T09:10:46.366-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 28px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ten Commandments for Mature Living #5</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-842ff8aa-af48-5bc4-c741-5b42731990ec" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Forgive: those who hurt you, your own sins, the unfairness of your life, and God for not rescuing you.” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have had a lot of crises in the past 5 years - and I have been pretty mad at God. OK, real mad at God. For not keeping my friend Laurie’s cancer from coming back and killing her. For my daughter being in terrible pain and not being able to help her. For giving me all these people to take care of - when, as everyone knows, I’D RATHER BE READING A BOOK!!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I always tend to rescue people if I can. Seeing people in distress makes me uncomfortable, and sometimes rescuing them is more about my discomfort than about them. If I were God, I would be rescuing people even when they needed to not be rescued. (I am not a good leader for that very reason. Not a good god either, btw.) </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One thing I have discovered is that I am a lot stronger than I thought. I never liked to quote the verse “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” because I mentally thought, “No, really, I don’t think I can…” But these last years I have fought and persevered more than I ever thought I could. So I am beginning (just beginning, mind you, and maybe a little reluctantly) to forgive God for not rescuing me. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I so, so don’t want to be a bitter, unforgiving old person. </span></div>
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Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03419165206590953667noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-69250771300962245162014-10-28T08:39:00.000-07:002014-10-28T08:39:08.723-07:00<h2 style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ten Commandments for Mature Living … #4 </span></span></h2>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-0893369e-5765-90cf-1199-ece4b1034b73" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>“Let suffering soften your heart rather than harden your soul.” </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘Suffering and humiliation will find us all, and in full measure, but how we respond to them will determine both the level of our maturity and what kind of person we are going to be. Suffering and humiliation will either soften our hearts or harden our souls.” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“There is no depth without suffering”, writes Rolheiser. “It can make us deep in understanding, empathy, and forgiveness, or it can make us deep in resentment, bitterness and vengeance…. And we have to make that choice daily: every time we find ourselves shamed, ignored, taken for granted, belittled, unjustly attacked, abused,or slandered we stand between resentment and forgiveness, bitterness and love. Which of these we choose will determine both our maturity and our happiness.” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don’t think I can add anything to that … except to pray that the Spirit of God in us will give us this grace to choose well. </span></div>
<br />Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11144177907870386097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-40162331412511354782014-09-09T09:39:00.000-07:002014-09-09T09:39:05.287-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ten Commandments for Mature Living #3</span></h1>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-60b8612e-5b45-e646-7551-c2d91223ee4d" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Transform jealousy, anger, bitterness, and hatred, rather than give them back in kind.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Any pain or tension that we do not transform we will transmit.” </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesus “took in hatred, held it, transformed it and gave back love; he took in bitterness, held it, transformed it, and gave back graciousness; he took in curses, held them, transformed them, and gave back blessings; and he took in murder, held it, transformed it, and gave back forgiveness.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just think about that one for a while: whatever we do not transform we will transmit. </span></div>
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Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03419165206590953667noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-56048149184881659862014-08-26T09:36:00.001-07:002014-08-26T09:36:31.646-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 28px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Carrying Life’s Complexities</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-2b604140-1327-f772-dd06-5f9f3091df6e" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ten Commandments for Mature Living #2</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">This weekend I went to a party. It was a celebration that took place in the midst of a very difficult and painful circumstance. There were old friends, loving children and grandchildren, good food and wine, laughter, and poetry to celebrate the guest of honor. That is, some of the very best things in life. It was a celebration in the midst of a sorrow - or maybe a sorrow in the midst of a celebration. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"> also (against my better judgement, as such movies generally make me crazy) watched a “Christian” movie. And yes, it did make me crazy, until we began to think of it as a mockumentary … a Christopher Guest movie about Christians, sort of “Waiting for Guffman” meets “Spinal Tap.” And then we roared with laughter and guessed everything that would happen next (down to the dead guy’s cell phone message… and now you know what the movie was.) </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The thing I hated of course is that it was so predictably “Jesus fixes everything.” Unambiguous. Happy endings. (Even for the dead guy who miraculously had a deathbed … or rather deathstreet) conversion. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Real life is more ambiguous - more like the sorrow in the midst of the party. I believe that because of Jesus, the party is the lasting thing, and the sorrow the fleeting. But until then, there is tension. Hence, this week’s invitation:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Be willing to carry more and more of life’s complexities with empathy. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Few things in life, including our own hearts, are black and white, either/or, simply good or simply bad. Maturity invites us to see, understand and accept this complexity with empathy, so that, like Jesus, we cry tears of understanding over our own troubled cities and our own complex hearts, and like Jesus, too, we can forgive others, the world and ourselves for this complexity and imperfection. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ronald Rolheiser</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the torment of the insufficiency of everything attainable, we come to understand that here, in this life, all symphonies remain unfinished. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Karl Rahner</span></div>
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Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11144177907870386097noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-1513547934073242302014-08-21T08:39:00.001-07:002014-08-21T08:57:51.956-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 28px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ten Commandments for Mature Living</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-72231c25-f934-a354-0549-1866228a1f13" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This summer I have been reading (at the suggestion of Father Kenny and Laura Benge) Ronald Rolheiser’s book </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sacred Fire: A Vision for a Deeper Human and Christian Maturity. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In one chapter he elaborates on Ten Commandments for Mature Living. </span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The ten commandments given us in Scripture are warnings intended to keep us from falling into sin and into places where we should not be. They are not the standard for holiness, but a lowest common denominator, the minimal requirement for morality, the benchmark below which someone should not fall. Hence, each of them is prefaced by the command, ‘Thou shalt not!’. The series of commandments here for a mature discipleship have a different intent, to invite us to a higher place, to a deeper maturity and a more intimate relationship with God and one another. Hence they are invitations rather than commands, and consequently each begins with a positive invitation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For the next 10 weeks I am going to attempt to practice one of these. And I may just blog about them (which may help me keep going) and include some quotes (what a surprise, Carolyn offering quotes!) and a few thoughts. No promises. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first one is this:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Live in gratitude and thank your Creator by enjoying your life. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gratitude is the basis of all holiness. The holiest person you know is the most grateful person you know. That is true too for love: the most loving person you know is also the most grateful person you know because even love finds its basis in gratitude. Anything we call love, but that is not rooted in gratitude, will, at the end of the day be manipulative and self-serving. If our love and service to others does not begin in gratitude, we will end up carrying people’s crosses and sending them the bill.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Referring to Luke 17:7-10) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What Jesus is doing in this parable is drawing the distinction between what comes to us </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">by right</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as opposed to what comes to us </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as gift</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. If each of us were given only what is owed to us, we would live like that servant just described. But we are given more, infinitely more. The real task of life than is to recognize that everything is a gift and that we need to keep saying thanks over and over again for all the things in life that we so much take for granted…</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As well, our gratitude is meant to carry something else: enjoyment of the gift that is given to us. The highest compliment we can give a gift giver is to enjoy the gift thoroughly. We owe it to our Creator to appreciate things, to be as happy as we can be. Life is meant to be more than a test, and so we might add this to our daily prayer: give us this day our daily bread and help us to enjoy it without guilt. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our level of maturity and generativity is synonymous with our level of gratitude- and mature people enjoy their lives. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“We will end up carrying people’s crosses and sending them the bill. “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yikes. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I decided to do this today because I am </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">so tired of being a caregiver</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. And on the verge of sending everyone the bill (spending the morning on the phone with Social Security and the afternoon at a doctors office can add up to a substantial bill…. just saying…) Angry at doing things for people. Sorry for myself. Gratitude far away. No grateful feelings in this heart. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So because I cannot muster up gratitude (reflecting my low level of maturity, see last sentence above!), I am practicing. Practicing giving thanks when I do not feel thankful. Practicing takes me to a place that I cannot get to by trying. So here is my invitation to practice this week: </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Live in gratitude and thank your Creator by enjoying your life.</span></div>
</div>
Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03419165206590953667noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-33553910606756651492013-04-13T09:18:00.000-07:002013-04-13T09:18:39.583-07:00<br />
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I said to my son Roger one day, “I don’t do physics.”</div>
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He, patiently, answered, “You do physics every day. You just don’t know it.” </div>
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I am realizing more and more the <i>size</i> of what we glimpse in Jesus... “That which was from the
beginning, which we have heard, which we have looked upon, and touched with our
hands concerning the word of life...”</div>
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There is so much that I don’t understand. Prayer, for
example: yesterday there was a
desperate, seemingly necessary plea left apparently unanswered, and the same day, another surprising intervention
that is so exact that I cannot believe it to be coincidence? What is up with
that? (“If You are answering prayers
today, God ... HOW ABOUT THIS ONE!!!”). </div>
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We have done each other a disservice when we try to explain
things too much, as though we understand everything. Reality, the action of God, life,
love, resurrection are all great mysteries. </div>
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We do them every day. We just don’t know it. </div>
Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11144177907870386097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-63681554165928951642013-01-25T10:16:00.000-08:002013-01-25T10:16:23.687-08:00The Fellowship of the Lymies
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We are in the Lyme doc's office. Everyone is here because they are sick. Some desperately so
... in a wheelchair, on oxygen, unable to walk or talk or see or think clearly.
Others don’t look as sick. But they can’t function fully. They are too weak, in
too much pain, too foggy in their brain. Some are new to this, and tentative.
Will all this be worth it? They have tried so many doctors before. Some are
clearly getting better – they will tell you their stories, about years of
sickness, then hope and treatment, and now some health, some vitality. They
tell us about their protocol, what helped and what didn’t, how they spent
everything they had to get to health, how grateful they are to those who have
helped them. They give us all hope, and help us to persist. </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The prescribed treatments are long, painful, and
complex.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No two are quite alike, because
the progression of each person’s disease is a little different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The doctor prescribes and guides your treatment,
but you have to say yes. You have to participate. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are medicines to be taken, things to be
avoided, regimens to be followed. No one does it alone. A friend or spouse or
family member has been there to hand them the pills, hook them up to the IV,
push them in the wheelchair into the office. Restoration comes slowly. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Online, I read reviews of the practice. “They saved my life”...
“They are disorganized” ... “they want you to take all this expensive medicine.”
Some have given up and settled for existence instead of life. Too hard, too
long, too expensive. I don’t want to take all those pills. I can’t afford to
come to this doctor. Maybe there is an easier way. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But we are here by faith. We have enough evidence to
believe. We pay the cost and follow the regimen. Where else could we go? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in the process, it is good to be here. The
other patients and their caregivers understand. We are the Fellowship of the
Lymies, in it together. Getting well. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Yes,”
we tell the others, it is worth it. Stick to it. The doc knows what he is doing,
even though he may not be explaining it to you. (Would we understand it all
anyway??) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gets people well.”</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have told you a parable. He who has ears to hear, let him
hear. </span><br />
Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11144177907870386097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-7553939081433319772013-01-17T12:05:00.000-08:002013-01-17T12:05:58.021-08:00Gwen's Mama
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">"When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and
their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them, I the god of
Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, and
fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of
water and the dry land springs of water. I will put in the wilderness the
cedar, the acacia, the myrtle and the olive; I will set in the desert the
cypress, the plane and the pine together so that all may see and know, all may
consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One
of Israel has created it. " </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Isaiah 41:17-29</span></div>
<br />
"<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘out of
his heart will flow rivers of living water’” </span><br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Gwen’s mama died this week. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t get to the funeral – but I heard
about it, and I can picture it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My friend Gwen came home to Kentucky from Vienna, Austria,
ten years ago to take care of her mama who had developed Alzheimers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hard to leave Vienna. Gwen had a rich life in
Vienna, and a ministry with diplomats and women at the United Nations from all
over the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She gave it up, and
moved <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to Kentucky. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Gwen is a lifegiver wherever she is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of diplomats, she became a lifegiver
to her Mama. And her cousins. And the lady across the street, and the hospice
nurse, and the students she met at the college each week ... and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to whoever came across her path.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Friends came from all over to visit her. Not
because they were sorry for her, stuck there in that little town... but because
they wanted to get in on it, to be around her, to be refreshed by the life that
flows from her. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(And maybe some of them also
wanted a piece of her coconut pie. I’m just saying...) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The funeral, I gather, was a glimpse of the life she
brought. Instead of a old woman dying alone, Gwen’s mama’s life <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and home had become a garden. Because of Gwen.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The desert of old age, memory loss, and
illness was transformed into a garden of love, kindness and joy, because there
was a fountain there. The funeral was an opportunity to see and know, to
consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One
of Israel has created it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It is, after all the way He does things. By His Spirit and
His word, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He makes people into springs
and rivers, springs and rivers which make the deserts bloom. </span></div>
Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11144177907870386097noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-37570487545473768742012-12-15T12:14:00.001-08:002012-12-15T12:14:47.136-08:00A Tribute to Roger RobinsonThis is the tribute, given by my son Roger, to my dad Roger at his funeral on November 29, 2012. <br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Hello
everybody, thank you very much for coming. For those of you who don’t know who
I am, my name is Roger. I was named after my grandfather. It’s a real honor to
be here. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you for coming ...I
really appreciate all our family and friends. You have no idea how much it
means to know that he was loved and that we are too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
wanted to talk about who he was, why I think he was so special, what his
character was. When I thought about this, about the words that describe him,
the word that I kept coming back to was love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now I know that can sound cheesy, but... He was a private man, he didn’t
always say what he was thinking, what he was feeling. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am kind of the same way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he showed his love through his work,
through what he did <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">for</b> people,
through his service.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He
met Gloria, his wife when they were young. They were roller skating, she was
with a friend. He came up and he asked her to skate... and he was faithful to
her - they were married for 67 years. And he loved her the whole time. When he
was in the hospital he would keep talking about her, saying what a wonderful
woman she was, how lucky he was to have such a wonderful woman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were calling to make appointments at the
hair salon, and the lady there said “Oh, he was such a sweet man, he and Gloria
were so sweet to each other, and so connected.” The fact that someone who
barely knew him would have that impression of them just speaks volumes about the
kind of person he was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I don’t
cry because I am sad. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I cry out of love.
I just loved him so much. It’s okay that he is gone. I am happy that he does
not have to suffer any more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just loved
him so much that I am overwhelmed by it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He
loved his family. He worked two jobs; <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he
was a trained instrument maker: he was skilled and intelligent. He also worked
a second job as a janitor so he could support his family. When he was in the
hospital, on his deathbed, he kept trying to get up, to do something ... to
wash the dishes or something. My mother was there next to him, and she was
stroking his cheek and saying to him, “ Its OK dad, everything is done. You don’t
have to do anything. You can just rest.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He
loved his friends too. He didn’t have very many close friends, but he the ones
he did have he really loved. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like his friend
Dennis... when he had brain surgery that left him partially disabled, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Roger helped him to learn to walk again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes
he loved his family, his friends, his wife. He also really loved pie. Mincement
pie, chocolate pie, pumpkin pie, he <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">loved
it</b>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the hospital on his tray of
food there was some carrot cake – guess what he ate first? He loved dessert. I
guess I inherited that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He
as a very joyful person. I live in Seattle, not very far away so I was able to
come and visit and every time I would come, I would walk into the room and he
would look up and his blue eyes would light up and he would say “Oh, hi, Rog!” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
was his grandson, so I didn’t know him when he was younger, but he was a young
boy’s dream when he would come to visit us when we were living in England, or
when we went to visit him in Colorado. He was so much fun. He loved adventure. That’s
what we would do. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He used to run, ride
his bike; he ran up Pikes Peak. He loved to golf and fish. He loved the outdoors;
he loved to be in nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We
went along with him sometimes, but I think his serious adventures he had by
himself. After he retired, Gloria was still working. She didn’t really know what
he did all day, she imagined him sitting at home, tidying up or puttering
around the house, but no, not him! He was out having adventures. He would pick
up some of the ladies from the church and he would take them skiing, they’d ski
all day, he’d come home and he’d rush around and tidy up and Nana would come
home and ... she wouldn’t know. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
years she didn’t know. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We went
to visit him and he had this old Scout and we would drive around the city, and
for some reason (I’m sure that this was his idea) he decided that we were never
going to stop, ever .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Driving around in
this scout <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>... red lights, stop signs,
it didn’t matter, he wasn’t stopping! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
there were cars in the way, he’d figure it out, we weren’t stopping. That was just
the kind of man he was. He was a kind man and a gentle man, but he was not a
tame man. He was truly wild at heart. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He
also loved being peaceful, being quiet. He loved to play golf. His golf swing was
not fast, not powerful: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it was smooth,
it was round. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After he retired he went
back to school took college courses in geology and German just because he liked
to learn about the world. He was interested in many things. His garden was the
best garden on the greenway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People
would go by and admire it. Even as an old man, when he was weak, we’d find him
outside, weeding. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had a terrible back,
he was in terrible pain and he’d be out there pulling weeds. We’d say,” Pop-pop
you don’t have to do that!” and he would say “I know, I just saw that one and I
thought I would get it.” He was not a man to sit in a chair and watch TV even
thought he was suffering. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He
was a great craftsman. He had a workshop that was immaculately ordered. He made
things for his kids and his grandchildren <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>... a dollhouse ... he made my brother and I
wooden swords so we could hit each other... what kid wouldn’t like that? He
loved fly fishing and he would make intricate flies... they were amazing, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it would take him hours. Everything he did he
liked to do well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He
was also very patient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When his
daughters Kathy and Carolyn were young he would read them stories at bedtime
and they would argue about whose bed he would sit on. They couldn’t stop
arguing so he pushed the beds together and sat in the middle! But there were
limits to his patience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he was
trying to teach Lisa, his granddaughter , to play golf ... she’s is left handed
and he said “No. Not possible.” Or when he was trying to teach his daughter Carolyn
to drive a manual transmission ... <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in his
Porsche. That didn’t go well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He quietly
helped people. He worked with Silver Key delivering food to people who couldn’t
leave their homes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and his daughter Liz
visited one lady ... they cooked her meal, set the table ... it was Thanksgiving,
and she didn’t have anyone to take care of her. He didn’t talk about these
things <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- he just did it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">From
him I could learn to love, and to love life... to be fierce... to be joyful.
Galatians 5 reminds us that the fruit of the spirit is love and joy, peace,
patience, and kindness and goodness, faithfulness, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>gentleness and self-control .....<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when you think back on his life if you
knew him, every one of these words describes him. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So I tell you, the Spirit of God was with him while he was on earth. And it is my prayer for each and every one of you that the Spirit of God would also be with you each and every day. Thank you so much for your support. <o:p></o:p></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11144177907870386097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-17691226999452050032012-06-04T08:05:00.000-07:002012-06-04T10:50:57.431-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://rachelheldevans.com/"><i style="font-size: 12pt;">R</i>achel Held Evans</a><span style="font-size: small;"> is hosting a "Week of Mutuality." Here is my contribution to the syncroblog!</span></div>
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I always thought I was a complementarian. (According to the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, complementarianism "affirms that men and women are equal in the image of God but maintain complementary differences in role and function.") Then Lianne Roembke, author of <i>Building Credible Multicultural Teams</i> and a woman I greatly admired, asked me how our marriage actually worked.<br />
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As a young wife I trusted
Terry’s judgment more than my own. He was so logical, so convinced that he was
right, could state his reasons for
coming to any decision, and rarely changed his mind. I had gut feelings and
changed my mind ... a lot. But he (smart guy that he is) listened to me and learned
to trust my intuitions. We never, that I
can remember, made any significant decisions that we did not agree on. I do not
remember him ever trumping my views because he was the “head”. Our roles and functions could not be described
as “lead” and “submit.” We always functioned as equal partners, under
the authority of Jesus, seeking to respond to the Spirit of God and to
represent His kingdom. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As the years went by, he
helped me to become more confident in my own insights, my own thinking and my
own wisdom. When he had surgery to remove a brain tumor in 1993, was
hospitalized for 5 months, and subsequently faced with a long rehabilitation,
we had new roles to play. I had to make the decisions. I handled the finances, dealt
with his medical issues, sold the house, organized an international move, and
supported the children as they were uprooted from their homes and established
in another country. I did it well, with the grace of God and the help of
many. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the subsequent years,
Terry (who is by the way, is the best and most Jesus-like person I know) encouraged me as I went back to school to get
my Master’s degree and established a new role in ministry in Campus Crusade for
Christ. (“They need what you have,” he said.) He enjoys hearing my insights, is influenced by what I am learning, and is glad I read all those books and give him synopses
(so he doesn’t have to read them.) He
likes the (rare) opportunities that I have to speak at church – because my
sermons are good. I could never have done what I do without his encouragement
and support. He helps to create an environment in which I can thrive. <o:p></o:p></div>
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There have been other men
with who have done the same. Dr. James
Houston and Dr. Bruce Hindmarsh, professors at Regent College who treated my
work with respect when I felt like the escaped housewife in a classroom full of
bright young men; Steve Ellisen and Matt
Mikalatos who as my bosses in Campus Crusade for Christ gave me a platform; and colleagues like Bob, Darren, Jason, and Kirk who have always
sought out my contributions and valued my gifts. <o:p></o:p></div>
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My very wise mentor, Ney
Bailey, told me “you be responsible for the depth of your ministry, and let God
be responsible for the breadth.” I don’t want to fight for a voice or a place at
the table (or on the platform.) But I
love it when men like these act like Jesus and fight for me. Thank-you, brothers. <o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03419165206590953667noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-52762268715992523862012-05-20T10:44:00.002-07:002012-05-20T10:44:24.125-07:00"The Absence of God"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
From <u>The Gospel According to Job</u> by Mike Mason:<br />
"Even as Job confesses His faith in the living God, he matter-of-factly accuses this God of deserting him, of leaving him in the lurch. It is as if God, though alive, might as well be dead. Nevertheless Job appeals to this silent, absent God as one whose living reality remains entirely beyond question, one whose existence is more certain than his own. (Job 27:2) ... Faith is the ability to tolerate the intolerable paradox of God's clear and undisputed title as Lord of the universe in spite of His apparent absence. Some might prefer to see faith as an awareness of God's presence, the discerning of His hand at work in our lives.But what of all the times we cannot see any hand at all? Sometimes the Lord touches us directly. But often He works through secondary agents - through other people, through created things, through life experiences both good and bad - and in such cases we may not be aware of His involvement until long afterwards, if at all. This is when pure faith is called for, faith reduced to simplest terms. "When you cannot practice the presence of God," wrote C.S. Lewis, "then it is something to practice the absence of God." </div>Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03419165206590953667noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-50353379528688402442012-02-03T10:49:00.000-08:002012-02-03T10:49:54.082-08:00Happy are those ...The field of positive psychology has great insights into the happiness and the brain. <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work.html">Here is a very entertaining Ted talk </a> which is a good example.<br />
An observation, and a question:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Note the connection between the practices he mentions - gratitude, journaling, exercise, acts of kindness - and Christian spiritual disciplines. </li>
<li>What do you think is the basis for this positive outlook? As one who believes that God is redeeming and restoring the world, I have hope, and thus a basis for a positive outlook. Apart from that, I don't quite get what the basis might be for this positive outlook, other than that it works ... that is, those who cultivate positivity are indeed happier and more productive, as demonstrated in a great deal of recent research. </li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11144177907870386097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-71720617720947925822011-12-10T11:17:00.000-08:002011-12-10T11:17:39.352-08:00Making Sense of our Lives<br />
People who are able to make sense of their difficult or traumatic experiences are more resilient, more able to have secure attachments than those who haven’t. A child who has one person in their life who is present to them, who sees them, who is able to help them make sense of their experiences will survive even traumatic experiences more readily than one who doesn’t. (It has to do with the connections between the left brain and its rationality to the right brain and its bodily and emotional responses. For those who know about neuroscience, please forgive my limited understanding and explanations!) <br />
<br />
When we read Scripture, we enter into the story of history and find our own place in it. I read the prophets and discover that the pattern of God’s work is the pattern of death and resurrection, not “progress”. I remember that God is a God who brings life out of death. I identify with the lamentations of Jeremiah and remember that in spite of how things looked at the time, God did fulfill his promises to his people. When I participate in communion I remember and reenact God bringing life out of death. My brain is making sense of my own experiences – making a narrative, putting it into context. I am entering into and finding my place in the story. <br />
<br />
Reading the Bible ... participating in communion ... changes your brain. <br />
<br />Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11144177907870386097noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-54768993540946909432011-12-09T08:56:00.000-08:002011-12-09T08:56:59.677-08:00Yet Lie Still and Sink BeneathFrom today's Daily Strength for Daily Needs:<br />
"Be not troubled; for if troubles abound, and there be tossing, and storms and tempests, and no peace, nor anything visible left to support; yet lie still, and sink beneath, till a secret hope stir, which will stay the heart in the midst of all these; until the Lord administer comfort, who knows how and what relief to give the weary traveller, that knows not where it is, nor the way to look, nor where to expect a path."Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11144177907870386097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-35448310715378903122011-12-03T15:35:00.000-08:002011-12-03T15:35:21.430-08:00Exercise is MedicineI have been going to Paul, my physical therapist for a problem that started a month ago. Paul is a great physical therapist. "Exercise is medicine:" he says. "If you don't do the exercises, I can't help you." <br />
<br />
Yesterday I discovered that I have been sitting down wrong. Standing up too. You would think that I know how to sit down and stand up - but one develops these bad habits, sometimes the result of an injury, and ones whole body begins to adapt to it. It throws things off, and causes weaknesses and pain in unexpected places. Everything shifts a little, until doing it wrong feels right - and doing it right feels wrong. <br />
<br />
You see where I am headed with this, right? <br />
<br />
The only way to change this is 1) to have someone point it out to you, someone who knows how your body ought to be working, and show you how to do it differently, and 2) decide that you are going to change the pattern, and then practice, practice, practice. At first it feels wierd, and you have to concentrate. (I am doing 3 sets of 10 - sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up. Watch in the mirror .. are my knees straight? are my feet straight ahead? Where is my weight? ) Over time the new habit becomes more natural and the pains and disability the old habit caused begin to go away. (I know this because Paul has helped me change other bad body mechanics habits.) <br />
<br />
#1 above is the equivalent of spiritual direction. You rarely can recognize these patterns yourself - you just know that you have weakness and pain somewhere and don't generally know why. A spiritual director is one who has learned to recogize the workings of the soul and has learned some exercises for it. <br />
<br />
#2 above is the equivalent of repentance (change your mind and your direction) and spiritual discipline. <br />
Now I know I sit down and stand up wrong. Just knowing that doesn't change it. I need to exercise. So here I go - another set of 10. So simple... but gets the job done. <br />Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11144177907870386097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-74704368794533286832011-12-02T08:23:00.000-08:002011-12-02T08:23:05.393-08:00God Works in StuffOne reason we don’t understand spiritual practices very well is that we often think of human beings as bodies who have a soul ... that is, the real me is somehow inside this body, not integrally connected with it. This is dualist Greek philosophy, not Hebrew thought! The Biblical view is that human beings are<strong> embodied spirits</strong>. God, who created the natural world and was Himself incarnated in Jesus - works in real stuff – blood and hormones and neurons, not in some magical, disembodied way. <br />
<br />
Because we are human – embodied spirits - our training takes place through practice. We are creatures of habit, and our brains, our emotions, our impulses, our responses are conditioned. That is the process by which we are transformed. <br />
<br />
It’s a long process, and I really don’t think there are shortcuts. <br />
<br />Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11144177907870386097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-39185486081737645842011-12-01T07:56:00.001-08:002011-12-01T08:14:18.310-08:00Changing Your BrainIn recent years, neuroscience has demonstrated why spiritual practices work. (Note: I like to refer to "spiritual practices" rather than "spiritual disciplines. Anyone can practice! Discipline sounds like ... pushups. I really hate pushups.) <br />
As Daniel Siegel, author of <em>Emotional Intelligence</em> wrote in his book <em>Mindsight: </em>"How we focus our attention shapes the structure of our brain." Think about that one for a while. <strong>The practices you engage in every day change the physical structure of your brain. </strong>Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11144177907870386097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-29750554603282534292011-11-30T08:06:00.000-08:002011-11-30T08:06:40.525-08:00What I Learned at HarvardI recently went to the Harvard Medical School Coaching conference, thanks to my generous friend Patty. (I now have a certificate with the Harvard crest on it...). <br />
<br />
Here is what I discovered ... much of what is current in coaching circles are things that we followers of Jesus should already know. Meditation ... gratitude...mindfulness ... positivity... having a mission bigger than yourself ... community... all these are practices that the Christian community has known for centuries. I came away feeling that while Christians have been chasing management and programs, business has been discovering the value of investing in human beings. <br />
<br />
So I am going to be posting a series of reflections on the <strong>practices</strong> of our life with God ... by which I mean a life that is truly and fully human. More about that later!Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11144177907870386097noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-69309290408377944302011-11-15T13:54:00.000-08:002011-11-15T14:05:21.356-08:00My Top Picks: Reading on Spiritual Formation<div style="border-bottom: solid #622423 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid #622423 .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent2; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent2; mso-border-bottom-themeshade: 127; mso-border-bottom-themeshade: 127; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;"><h2><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Gordon Smith, <i>On the Way: A Guide to Christian Spirituality</i>. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This brief volume is theologically and practically rich – one of my most recommended books! (Regent College Publishing, available on Amazon, but unfortunately, not on Kindle.) </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ruth Haley Barton, <i>Sacred Rythyms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation</i> , IVP</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Barton provides an accessible introduction to essential spiritual practices and how to develop a “rule of life.” At under 200 pages, this is an easy read. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Henri Nouwen, <i>The Way of the Heart <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Many of the books we read are compilations and summaries. Nouwen is an “original source” who fundamentally influenced the discussion of spiritual transformation in our generation. In this small volume, he draws on the Desert Fathers in inviting us to the practices of Solitude, Silence, and Prayer. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">James C. Wilhoit <i>Spiritual Formation as if the Church Mattered: Growing in Christ through Community</i>. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This excellent book is a corrective to some of the more individualized views of spiritual transformation. This is a more substantive book proposing a “curriculum for Christlikeness, grounded in the gospel and the grace that makes it available.” </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Dallas Willard: <i>The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This book is sure to become a classic for the Christian life. Indispensible introduction to the place of spiritual disciplines in the Christian life. This is a book you should have in your library and reread periodically.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">N.T. Wright, <i>After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters</i>. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If you are looking for a solid theological perspective, read this!! Few books expound the “telos” , the goal of our transformation and why it matters to God and to the world. (“We are designed to be, in the end, fully renewed, image-bearing human beings.”) Wright is one of the few leading theologians who can write for the general public in an engaging way. It will challenge you! </span></span></div></h2></div>Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11144177907870386097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8143974757964596568.post-6556702012057465272011-09-17T08:45:00.000-07:002011-09-17T08:47:36.693-07:00A Prayer for Caregivers<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Tempus Sans ITC";">O Lord of love</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Tempus Sans ITC";">Let thy blessing be upon us and fill us with thy love.</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Tempus Sans ITC";">Deliver us from all unkindness;</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Tempus Sans ITC";">From offense given or taken;</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Tempus Sans ITC";">From unrighteous anger and an impatient spirit;</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Tempus Sans ITC";">From a hard and unforgiving temper;</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Tempus Sans ITC";">And from evil-speaking;</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Tempus Sans ITC";">From an unquiet and discontented spirit;</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Tempus Sans ITC";">From gloominess and despondency;</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Tempus Sans ITC";">From fears and misgivings,</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Tempus Sans ITC";">From doubts of thy boundless love,</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Tempus Sans ITC";">And from forgetfulness of thy tender mercies; deliver us, O lord, </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Tempus Sans ITC";">And fill us with the fullness of Thy love;</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Tempus Sans ITC";">Through Jesus Christ our Lord</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Tempus Sans ITC";">Amen.</span></b></span></div>Carolyn Culbertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11144177907870386097noreply@blogger.com1