Brandon Morton

"like the salt" he said referring to his last name. The first time I met Brandon my sense was 'jovial'...the guy is just a genuinely happy guy. Friendly, joyful, kind. Each time I have come across Brandon he's oozed joy. Last night in the commuter apartment I stay in when I travel to Kansas I learned Brandon's story. Twice he's been inprisoned, once at 16 for armed robbery then later in his twenty's because of drug related parole violation. Brandon was a methamphetamine addict who as he tells it "was stuck on stupid" until he met Jesus. He is radically saved. A plumber by profession serves his local church and is enrolled at the seminary so that he can go into full time ministry. The joy....he who has been forgiven much, loves much. I went to bed last night amazed...another captive set free...

Snow

It's snowing...falling like feathers...huge clumps of snow covering the sky. It's quiet, peaceful and beautiful.

The Big Sexy

That's his nickname and I didn't give it to him...It was two years ago when we first met and we roomed with an undergrad when during the summer Mark came out in some tidy whitey underwear and the undergrad said "well aren't you the big sexy' and it stuck.... We've roomed together now off and on when I come to Kansas City for class and it's like rooming with John Wayne if he were one of the disciples. God just put us together since day one and over the last few years we have helped plant a church together and we have networked ministry trips and God has used a strange Felix Unger/Oscar Madison relationship of his own making. This is probably my last trip to Kansas in which I'll have opportunity to room with the Big Sexy and even now as I write this hiding under my blanket so he can snore I am amazed at how God weaves the thread of redemption often using the oddest of combinations...and yet he does...community is the person and cause of Jesus. Jesus is the tie that binds us...even when the couple is odd and the sight not so appealing...tidy whitey's weren't made for everyone.

evangecube toy

My 11 year old 8 year old and 6 year old were upstairs playing when my 6 year old came across the "evangecube", which is a cube with the story of Christ in very bright illustrated form. My 6 year old was trying to get it to work when she asked the 8 year old for help. So upstairs in our play room the 11 year old and the 8 year old when through the story of salvation and how Jesus had to die for our sin but how if we accept the Jesus and his work upon the Christ we can have the relationship with God that was always intended...My 6 year old came down stairs and told her mom she wanted to 'exchange' her life and as they talked through it she prayed and gave her life to Jesus.
I think the toys we play with are important...our hobbies our make believe define us....I think any Christ follower is capable of helping someone come to Jesus. There is no substitute for the great sense of joy in listening to my 6 year old tell me she 'exchanged' her life...I pulled a rock out of my pocket that day someone had given it to me and on it was chiseled abundance.....so it seems..

The experiment

Today is day four of no television.....the first step in recovery is to admit you have a problem. It began with my father in laws gift of a 52 inch DLP HD screen a year ago. So we decided it would be a waste if we didn't have 'cable'. Then it slowly devolved into a nightly habit of watching 2 hours of television regardless of what was on...along the way I disovered 'survivorman', the Dog Whisperer and watched more movies that I can remember. John Ortberg says the most dangerous object in the home is the 'easy chair' and I must admit I agree. I've spent less time on the street with neighbors, on my bike or in the garage. I've spent less time with my wife, though next to her at times...luring her into the addiction. So on Monday of this week I quit it...I missed the National Championship...I should say I didn't watch it...I didn't miss anything...my life is fuller because of it...Instead Jody and I had Spa night...where we gave each other back rubs...two hours a night equals 14 hours a week...that's two short work days or one massive work day a week...You could spend a month of your life in front of the T.V this year...it's what I did last year...So I quit...I don't quit often...but somethings are worth walking away from. I'm not saying I won't watch a movie from time to time...I just don't want my life to be defined by the 'easy chair'.

Check Engine Light

My check engine light came on in my truck...I had already done the routine maintenance and it was in between 'significant' mile marks. I took the truck into the shop and a day later they called to tell me my fuel air sensor was bad. I asked if that was important and the tech said it was because it determined the amount of air to fuel that my engine should be getting. I pretended to understand what that signified and said alrighty then....They swamped it out in under an hour.
The check engine light in my life comes on from time to time and the Holy Spirit let's me know that an important sensor has gone bad....the difference is that when I pretend to understand verses really comprehending the gravity of the malfunction...nothing is swamped out. So often I need God to open up the hood and just swap a part out but he says come, let me show you and unless I'm willing to see the part, how it works, what went wrong and unless I'm willing to trade the old for new....then I just run with a bad fuel/air sensor and sooner or later things get worse.
Most days I just want to drop my soul off and pick it up later ....all better. That, for our sakes, is not how it works...God does all the diagnosing and repair, but we learn all along the way and we must be active in the process. Full service...yes...blissfully ignorant...No.

gratitude threshold

Studies show that some are more easily grateful than others. There is a certain % of the population that is grateful for simple things while others require something more 'significant' to register in order for gratitude to happen. I like this study because it let's me blame my ingratitude on my 'gratitude tolernace'....but like anything whether genetically predisposed or not that is only a small percent...the rest is discipline and effort. My goal is to bless God 24 times day. This morning I thanked him for my cat and the bradford trees that are a brilliant red this morning. I'm genetically predisposed not to give a rip about cats and bradford trees but so what, we overcome our genetics all the time. The capacity to be transformed is our God Granted destiny...it is the 'work' of the Holy Spirit in our lives and these little 'reknewings' or revolutions of habit are the pathway. Gratitude is not a gift we give to God in order to acknowledge Him...Gratitude is his gift to us...it is the great capacity to enjoy and he watches with delight. Gratitude is the tastebud at the onset of a tangerine, the eardrum of a symphony, the eye at the oceanside sunrise...Gratitude is God's gift to us...the capacity to enjoy the life he's given us.