Jason Clark's Blog, page 18

THE PROBLEM WITH RETRIBUTION WITH JASON CLARK

The Problem with Retribution Chapter Seven / Leaving and Finding Jesus

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This podcast announces and features Jason’s new book, Leaving and Finding Jesus, in audio format. Retribution is the title of chapter seven and is presented in its entirety.

In this chapter and podcast, Jason juxtaposes retribution with reconciliation and recognizes that a punishment lens on the nature of God is one of the reasons the church is navigating broken trust. It’s also why we currently find ourselves in a Deconstruction Movement.

God is as Jesus revealed Him, and on a cross, Jesus forgave. And on a cross, God, in Christ, reconciled the world to Himself.

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Podcast intro and outro music by Wilde Assembly

Derek Turner Follower of Jesus, in love with @sarahjturner, father to @caro.turn & @kaaatters, owner of Milo, pastor @rivercharlotte. Amazed by Grace www.rivercharlotte.com

Follow Follow Follow Jason Clark is a writer, speaker, and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

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YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… KATHRYN LYNN CIENIEWICZ / LOVE IS THE LONG GAME

by A Family Story | February 24, 2021 | Crisis of Identity, Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments

Salvation, hell, justice, equality, the bible, and the unconditional transformative always good Love of God; in this insightful interview, Kathryn talks about her spiritual deconstruction and the journey of rethinking God. She brilliantly addresses the sin of certainty, newfound feminism, and a Love that casts out all fear.

The post Trust Is My Throughline appeared first on A Family Story.

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Published on February 22, 2023 09:21

SHAWN HARNISH / UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

Shawn Harnish Unconditional Love

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Pastoring a community, faith and living in mystery, putting unconditional love before understanding, kindness that leads to repentance, the nature of trust, punishment hell, Bible College, the Age of Certainty, and timeless reconciling love – in this conversation, Shawn Harnish shares about his 25-plus years of pastoring in one area and the transforming discovery of the finished work of the cross. Add to that, 25-plus years of friendship with Jason and a mutual love of the Buffalo Bills, and you got a profound and fun conversation – Go Bills!

For more on Shawn Harnish
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Website: www.dansvillefoursquare.org

Podcast intro and outro music by Wilde Assembly

Derek Turner Follower of Jesus, in love with @sarahjturner, father to @caro.turn & @kaaatters, owner of Milo, pastor @rivercharlotte. Amazed by Grace
www.rivercharlotte.com

Follow Follow Follow Jason Clark is a writer, speaker, and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY BUY NOW!

YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR / LIFE, LITERATURE, & GOD

by A Family Story | April 27, 2022 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Hell, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three, Sin, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments

Karen Swallow Prior is a Reader, Writer, and Professor. In that order, which was discussed in this conversation along with the power of language, the Word becoming flesh, the connection of imagination with logic and reason, empathy, trauma, the theodicy of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and love being the center of our conversations. Karen also shares about getting hit by a literal bus and how she grew in her understanding that her life is in God’s hands.

Read More KATHRYN LYNN CIENIEWICZ / LOVE IS THE LONG GAME

by A Family Story | February 24, 2021 | Crisis of Identity, Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments

Salvation, hell, justice, equality, the bible, and the unconditional transformative always good Love of God; in this insightful interview, Kathryn talks about her spiritual deconstruction and the journey of rethinking God. She brilliantly addresses the sin of certainty, newfound feminism, and a Love that casts out all fear.

Read More SHAWN HARNISH / UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

by Jason Clark | February 16, 2023 | Faith, Intimacy, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Four, Sin, The Fathers Love, Writing | 0 Comments

Pastoring a community, faith and living in mystery, putting unconditional love before understanding, kindness that leads to repentance, the nature of trust, punishment hell, Bible College, the Age of Certainty, and timeless reconciling love – in this conversation, Shawn Harnish shares about his 25-plus years of pastoring in one area and the transforming discovery of the finished work of the cross. Add to that, 25-plus years of friendship with Jason and a mutual love of the Buffalo Bills, and you got a profound and fun conversation – Go Bills!

Read More LEIF HETLAND / THE LOVE AWAKENING

by A Family Story | July 6, 2022 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, Intimacy, Miracles, Popular, Prayer, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments

In this conversation Leif, Mark Appleyard, and Jason dive into Leif’s new book, The Love Awakening. Through personal stories, the guys discuss the powerful, supernatural Baptism of Love that breaks off shame, affirms identity, and reveals the unconditional love of the Father. This is a life-giving conversation around union, evangelism, and the miraculous.

Read More SHEILA GREGOIRE / THE GREAT SEX RESCUE

by A Family Story | June 13, 2021 | Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Life, Marraige, Popular, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two | 2 Comments

Intimacy within marriage, the connection between intimacy and mutuality, the nature of trust, the definition of sex, addressing transactional vs relational thinking, dismantling obligation, addressing objectification and broken ideologies developed from Eph 5:22, “Wives submit to your husbands…” Sheila Gregoire practically rethinks sex so husbands and wives can experience intimacy, joy, and deeper connection.

Read More FELICIA MURRELL / EMPATHY; THE TREASURE OF THE INCARNATION

by A Family Story | January 17, 2023 | Faith, Intimacy, Life, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Four, Sin, The Fathers Love, Writing | 1 Comment

“The Spirit said to me, ‘I want you to hand to me everything that you believe to be true about God and let me hand back to you everything that is true.’”

Racism, deconstruction, shame, guilt, certainty, empathy, infinite mercy, grace, healing, and other-centered, self-giving love, in this amazing conversation, Felecia and Jason visit fear and prejudice while leaning into the AND of God’s always present, empathetic, reconciling love.

The post SHAWN HARNISH / UNCONDITIONAL LOVE appeared first on A Family Story.

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Published on February 15, 2023 23:08

Karen Wouldn’t Say “Obey”

Karen Wouldn't Say "Obey"

Nearly twenty-nine years ago, a few months before we married, Karen let me know she’d edited out the portion of the vows where the bride promises to obey. You know, “for better for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and obey, till death us do part.”

I was surprised. Not that she wanted to amend the vows, but by the fact the word obey was only in the woman’s vows. Until that conversation, I’d assumed the vows mirrored each other.

I was naïve for three reasons: First, I was 20 years old and had spent little time thinking about wedding vows.

Second, I wasn’t a woman.

Third, I’d grown up in a home where my parents modeled greater love and equality.

When I realized “obey” was only in the woman’s vows, removing the word was easy and obvious. I agreed wholeheartedly.

While we may not have fully understood the power of our agreement at the time, we knew the foundation of our relationship would not be built on obedience. It would be built on trust and intimacy. There would be no hierarchy in our marriage. We were two becoming one. We desired to know union and intimacy. And so, our marriage would be built on greater love, mutual surrender, submitting one to another—equality.

I love the word obey. I wrote a whole book about radical obedience titled Untamed. Obedience, inside relational trust, is powerfully beautiful, but outside of mutual self-giving love, it can be a deceitful word, a religious obsession that enslaves us. When it comes to marriages, a hierarchal understanding of the word can really mess things up.

I have counseled many fractured marriages where husbands don’t feel respected, wives don’t feel loved, and closeness or intimacy hasn’t been experienced in years. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat dumbfounded as the husband, in an attempt to defend his controlling actions toward his wife, quotes Ephesians 5:22: “Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands….”

And I’m heartbroken and a little angry when, on more than one occasion, the wife, sitting in tears next to her confused and controlling husband, has said, “I am trying to.”

I’ve had to stop myself from cuffing the fella on the back of the head as he uses the word submit like a gun to manipulate and control—to get what he wants. When submit is used to support hierarchy, it’s a dirty word.

I have seen this hierarchal lens used to compromise trust and undermine access to intimacy. And insecurity and distance are always the fruit of this transactional master-servant relationship.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her….” That’s Ephesians 5:25, and it’s the essential part of Paul’s instruction to married couples. Unfortunately, this verse is not quoted nearly as often as the “Wives submit to your husbands” verse that comes a few sentences earlier.

Jesus best explained what the word submit means when He said, “No one takes it (my life) from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” 1 Then, Jesus revealed what submitting looks like by going to a cross and laying down His life for us. Jesus rejected the gun, the very idea of hierarchy and control.

Intimacy is impossible in a hierarchy; oneness can only be experienced through equality.

Jesus modeled the way to intimacy through self-giving, other-centered love. And Paul’s instruction to husbands and wives in Ephesians highlights that connection. The fact is, intimacy between a husband and wife is discovered in mutual submission—true equality, greater love.

You see, intimacy can’t be experienced in a relationship where one person exercises control over the other. Two becoming one—union—occurs between two trusting people who surrender, submitting one to another, laying down their lives for each other of their own accord.

There are two types of surrender, forced or voluntary. Greater Love never forces and always volunteers. It’s why we can always trust Him, and it’s how we discover union.

And it works the same way in a marriage.

If you want a transactional, “What am I still lacking?” relationship with your spouse, keep playing the master-servant control game. If you want trust, friendship, oneness, and an ever-growing intimacy, it’s only found in Greater Love.

I’ve shared that thought with both husbands and wives—but mostly while looking at the husband.

And I’ve shared that thought with many Christians as well—but mostly while looking at the leader.

Control is the antithesis of intimacy and oneness. A hierarchal understanding of submission is what’s wrong with this world.

By removing the word obey from our vows, Karen and I took the gun out of our marriage and created a safe place to discover union, intimacy, and an ever-deepening friendship—oneness through true equality.

This article is excerpted from my book, Leaving and Finding Jesus
Order Now At AMAZON.COM

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Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva. Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… Papa Was A Minister

by Jason Clark | February 10, 2012 | Articles, Faith, Miracles, Prone To Love, Short Story | 3 Comments

After Papa dies, he was a better man; full of grace and love. My Papa was a minister. He was a good man before he died.

The post Karen Wouldn’t Say “Obey” appeared first on A Family Story.

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Published on February 13, 2023 13:54

ROBIN SMIT / IT IS FINISHED

Robin Smit It Is Finished

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“…You are absolutely perfect in the Father’s eyes! You can’t become more perfect than you already are. His heart is captivated by you!” Grace, resurrection, life, the finished work of the cross, and the impact on sin, death, and sickness, this conversation is an invitation to realize and awaken to the fact that we are co-seated with Christ. Robin speaks to the love of our Father, His affection – “He has always loved us we take His breath away!” We are loved in the same way our Father loved Jesus!

This conversation also included Robin’s passion for writing and her new publishing venture, The Writers Society www.thewriterssociety.online

For more on Robin Smit
Instagram: @robinsmitauthor
Website: www.robinsmit.com
The Writers Society: www.thewriterssociety.online

Podcast intro and outro music by Wilde Assembly

Derek Turner Follower of Jesus, in love with @sarahjturner, father to @caro.turn & @kaaatters, owner of Milo, pastor @rivercharlotte. Amazed by Grace
www.rivercharlotte.com

Follow Follow Follow Jason Clark is a writer, speaker, and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY BUY NOW!

YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… FELICIA MURRELL / EMPATHY; THE TREASURE OF THE INCARNATION

by A Family Story | January 17, 2023 | Faith, God Is Not In Control, Intimacy, Popular, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Four, Sin, The Fathers Love | 1 Comment

“The Spirit said to me, ‘I want you to hand to me everything that you believe to be true about God and let me hand back to you everything that is true.’”

Racism, deconstruction, shame, guilt, certainty, empathy, infinite mercy, grace, healing, and other-centered, self-giving love, in this amazing conversation, Felecia and Jason visit fear and prejudice while leaning into the AND of God’s always present, empathetic, reconciling love.

We don’t get to healing without Truth…(we) don’t get to healing in denial – so (we) have to own both the wound and (our) responsibility and completeness….”

Read More CARLOS PADILLA / WALKING IN GOD’S POWER

by A Family Story | May 5, 2021 | Faith, Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two | 0 Comments

Healing, miracles, the power of God, evangelism through the gospel of inclusion, faith, and reframing repentance, Carlos shares about his journey of discovering that the miraculous, or a transformed life, is simply about discovering God’s love and our origin and union in Him.

Read More KIM HONEYCUTT / SHAME, AND WHAT TO DO WITH IT

by A Family Story | February 10, 2021 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments

In this podcast, Psychotherapist Kim Honeycutt addresses shame, blame the trauma of rejection. She brilliantly highlights our intrinsic worth, our identity in Christ, and the journey from rejection to acceptance.

The post ROBIN SMIT / IT IS FINISHED appeared first on A Family Story.

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Published on February 01, 2023 09:49

I Have Never Called You Servants… / He Liked The Juice!

I Never Called You Servants... He Liked The Juice

A Passion Translation“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” Those are the NIV-translated words of Jesus found in John 15:15.

But the Brian Simmons Passion Translation of that verse is my favorite, and I think it’s infinitely more accurate—not based on my academic prowess but on what I know about love.

It reads, “I have never called you ‘servants’… But I call you my most intimate friends….”

He Liked The Juice

For a long time, my son, Ethan Wilde, yes, we named him Wilde, was only aware of one fruit of the Spirit, self-control. That’s because when he was between the ages of 7 and 13, I preached it with a fervor Billy Graham would envy.

My son started out like the rest of us—brilliant and immature, a professional mistake-maker. And there were a few years when Karen and I wondered if he would ever know the freedom self-control afforded.

During those years, if Ethan was hungry, he ate the chips—all of them. Sometimes he ate all of them even when he wasn’t hungry. If he thought math was stupid, he found the answer key online and passed fourth grade with flying colors. If he wasn’t tired, he approached bedtime as a suggestion. And when it came to juice, God help us!

We’re a juice family, but I never got any during those years. Yeah, Karen bought juice and even put it in the fridge. But what happened after that resembled a magic show, because if you turned around—voila! It was gone—or worse.

What’s worse? Try opening the refrigerator and thinking excitedly, “Hey, juice!” only to lift the container and discover just a swallow remains. What kinda monster leaves a swallow? A swallow of juice is like decaffeinated coffee—why bother? A swallow of juice is the kinda thing that causes parents to fondly reminisce about the days before kids—except it wasn’t the kids that drank all but a swallow of juice, it was that kid—Ethan, always Ethan!

So, I made a rule—a law, a commandment—for my son, to wit: “Thou shalt only have one glass of juice a day. Just one glass! I’m serious! Son, look at me. I mean it.”

This led to a cleverness that’s hilarious—now. You see, the first rule didn’t fix the problem; there was still no juice in the house. “Maybe it’s the girls,” I briefly wondered until the day I watched Ethan pouring juice into the 32-ounce plastic Buffalo Bills cup we used to water the plants.

That led to a second rule, a subset of the original commandment. “This glass,” I pronounced, grabbing a medium-sized glass from the cupboard.

A couple of days later, I walked into the kitchen just in time to see my curly-brown-haired boy, glass on the counter, mouth on the glass, as he poured the juice into it. He was slurping the overflow!

“Are you kidding?” I thought, annoyed, impressed, and exhausted.

If you’re a parent with littles, you are likely laughing and crying, because you also have a clever, rule-bending, wild kid; and you, too, are juice deprived.

During this parenting season, I knew a mom who told her kids, “I’ve put two juices in the fridge, and I peed in one of them.” I don’t know if it worked for her, but in my house, Ethan would have risked it.

So, for years, Ethan and I had deep conversations about self-control, generosity, obedience, and the nature of trust and freedom.

“Son, my goal isn’t to micromanage your juice usage. I got other things to do with my life. My goal is that you would get a hold of my heart for a juice culture of generosity so that you can live in the freedom of self-control and everybody in the house can have juice!”

“Son, why does a car have brakes?” I’d occasionally ask during a juice course correction conversation. “So it can go fast,” he’d respond with enthusiasm.

“Exactly!”

As parents of littles, our desire wasn’t to control our kids; it was that they would mature in love and grow in self-control. We wanted our kids to have full access to our love and affection so they could have full access to freedom in every stage of life—so they can go fast!

Our goal as parents is mutual trust, and to mature in friendship. Therefore, our highest pursuit wasn’t obedience. Rather, it was heart-to-heart communion, knowing, connection. Obedience was simply a road we traveled together as a family—as friends—maturing in love.

When our kids were young, and, therefore, immature, obedience was a huge part of our friendship. And on the days when Karen and I were most like our heavenly Father, there was nothing transactional about it. By that, I mean, obedience wasn’t about changing behavior; it was an opportunity to grow in mutual trust.

Karen and I endeavored to create a family culture that protected trust. In that culturally safe place, obedience was an opportunity for our kids to discover and develop our values—our heart for the whole family. Obedience was a way our kids could mature in greater love and the fruits thereof—one of those fruits being the freedom of self-control.

On the days when we were most like our heavenly Father, we didn’t want to control Ethan; we wanted Ethan to control himself. We wanted our son to be empowered to go to the fridge, assess how much juice there was, take into account the four other people who lived in the house, and make a decision that was about love and generosity and going fast! For us, this would have been like heaven had come to earth.

In a family culture where self-giving love is the foundation, obedience becomes an expression of humility, generosity, and freedom. Karen and I have learned that where there’s a heart-to-heart connection, obedience is a natural response, the evidence of a maturing friendship. Conversely, where there is no heart-to-heart connection, obedience becomes transactional, and slaving, or rebelling, is the fruit.

“I have never called you ‘servants’… But I call you my most intimate friends….” 1

We never called our kids servants. That’s the point I’m trying to make. Our kids have always been our most intimate friends.

You see, if you teach children to obey and serve outside of heart-to-heart connection, they will become servants who don’t know friendship. And that’s the last thing Karen and I want for our kids! Those servants end up slaving like the prodigal outside of family, or the older brother outside of reconciliation.

Karen and I weren’t interested in raising slaving servants, “because a servant does not know his master’s business….” Instead, we endeavored to raise friends because, well, they get access to “everything that (we have) learned from (our) Father….”

You know, my kids have never once called me, master. They have always called me, dad.

You know, Jesus never once called His Father, Master. He always called Him, Dad.

Jesus was the greatest servant of all but never left sonship to serve. He never rebelled or slaved for a Master, because He had a heart-to-heart connection with a good Father—they were best friends. Jesus never lived desperate, because He knew the confident freedom of sonship. He never lived insecure, because He knew the eternal life of a greater love friendship.

Jesus redefined obedience in the relational trust of family and friendship. He revealed that serving had nothing to do with the transactional hierarchy between masters and slaves.

(1) 1 John 15:15

This article is excerpted from my book, Leaving and Finding Jesus
Order Now At AMAZON.COM

ORDER NOW!

Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva. Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… Why Can’t I Trust God’s Love?

by Jason Clark | February 12, 2020 | Articles, Faith, Life, Popular, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments

If our theology is grounded in the idea that our good God is in control, then why does He allow evil, suffering and bad things?

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Published on January 27, 2023 13:15

FELICIA MURRELL / EMPATHY; THE TREASURE OF THE INCARNATION

Felicia Murrell Empathy; The Treasure of the Incarnation

iTunes Spotify Google YouTube “The Spirit said to me, ‘I want you to hand to me everything that you believe to be true about God and let me hand back to you everything that is true.’”

Racism, deconstruction, shame, guilt, certainty, empathy, infinite mercy, grace, healing, and other-centered, self-giving love, in this amazing conversation, Felecia and Jason visit fear and prejudice while leaning into the AND of God’s always present, empathetic, reconciling love.

We don’t get to healing without Truth…(we) don’t get to healing in denial – so (we) have to own both the wound and (our) responsibility and completeness….”

For more on Felicia Murrell
Instagram: @hellofelicia_murrell
Instagram: @fethefoodie
Facebook: Felicia Murrell

Podcast intro and outro music by Wilde Assembly

Derek Turner Follower of Jesus, in love with @sarahjturner, father to @caro.turn & @kaaatters, owner of Milo, pastor @rivercharlotte. Amazed by Grace
www.rivercharlotte.com

Follow Follow Follow Jason Clark is a writer, speaker, and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY BUY NOW!

YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… ROD WILLIAMS / UNION WITH DISTINCTION

by A Family Story | February 2, 2022 | Faith, Interview, Life, Prayer, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments

Union, a Triune God, mutual indwelling others-centered love (perichoresis) approaching scripture to discover Jesus, and communion are some of the themes Rod Williams dives into. What if “all” means “all” and God isn’t distant? There is no distance, no separation in God and this conversation is a beautiful invitation to awaken to that discovery and our union with Him.

Read More KRISTIN DU MEZ / JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE

by A Family Story | May 26, 2021 | Faith, Interview, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two | 1 Comment

Patriarchy, authoritarian rule, the nature of power and privilege in America and the Church, the deconstruction movement, Christians in politics; in this podcast, Professor and Historian Kristin Du Mez, examines the impact of perhaps the most influential subculture in this country, white evangelicalism. This conversation explores how evangelicals have stepped away from the Jesus of the Gospels, from sacrificial love. “But what was once done, can be undone.”

Read More PETER HIETT / WHAT ABOUT HELL?

by A Family Story | March 2, 2022 | Articles, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Interview, Life, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments

The goodness of God but hell, atonement but hell, reformation but hell, scripture but hell, Calvinism but hell; in this podcast Peter Hiett describes hell as “Satan’s big but.” In this conversation Peter walks us through the story of our own creation, the goodness of God’s reconciling love, the relational kindness of a God who encounters, sets free and transforms.

Peter describes a God who delights in His creation, a God who destroys what is evil, creates what is good, and invites us to observe our own creation in Christ Jesus.

Read More DANIEL GROTHE / THE POWER OF PLACE

by A Family Story | March 15, 2022 | Articles, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Interview, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments

Daniel Grothe and the guys discuss his new book, The Power of Place, which speaks the sense of loneliness that many feel in today’s age of hypermobility and noncommittal wandering, reminding us of the ancient vow of stability and teaching us how we can lead a richer life of friendship, community, and purpose.

They also touch on the deconstruction movement within the church, how authoritarian leadership has wounded and undermined trust, and how healing and connection are available only where we practice the long game of family.

View more on Jason Clark's website »

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Published on January 16, 2023 21:34

For or Against; The Christian Hypocrisy

For or Against The Christian Hypocrisy

In Gethsemane, after Peter tried to establish his idea of God’s Kingdom through the violent use of a sword, Jesus rebuked him, “If you live by the sword, you die by the sword!” 1

Another way of saying it—is if you live by ‘for or against thinking,’ you will die by ‘for or against thinking.’

Then, Jesus modeled the way of eternal life by taking up a cross and laying down His life for His friends.

Today, much of the church—including her leaders, because they are obsessed with retribution—often behave like Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, swinging their swords in defense of ideologies absolutely contrary to cruciform love.

Much of the church—specifically, many of her leaders—exult in the knowledge of good and evil. We pick sides for or against a politician, a pastor, a movement, a group, a race, a country, a specific sin, or a specific sinner, and then justify waging war on behalf of our devotion to our side or point of view.

And war makes cruel hypocrites out of even the best-intentioned Christians.

And nothing undermines trust quicker than this hypocrisy.

Do you know why Jesus can be trusted? It’s simple. He laid down His life on our behalf, not counting our sins, political affiliations, tribalism, cruel ideologies, or punishing theologies against us.

He was not against us!

There is no for or against in Christ crucified and risen.

Yes, there is great evil and injustice in this world. And yes, we are in a battle, but not against flesh and blood. Our fight is against the dualistic nature of Satan, against the hierarchal thinking that empowers us to swing a sword at another person in defense of our certainties about God. 2

The Christian devotion to a leader, institution, ideology, or theology in the spirit of for or against has birthed a call to arms that is counter to the gospel of Jesus. Today, the church is often better known for our abuses and whom we are against than for being a living expression of Greater Love.

The whole world is looking for somewhere to place their trust. We look to our politicians, government, news media, and institutions—including the church, and they are all failing us. Sadly, when the world looks to the church, they often see sword-wielding, spear-flinging, untrustworthy Christians justifying their punishing devotion to for or against.

Whenever Christians defend cruelty and condemnation in the name of a punishing God, people’s ability to trust the church is compromised.

The church’s unwillingness to leave retribution has birthed a hypocrisy that suffocates—and people are leaving. And that may not be a bad thing. You see, today, the church is being sifted like wheat. But Jesus has prayed for our faith…

Christians are rethinking the doctrines we’ve been taught about God, the Bible, and the meaning of being a follower of Jesus. “Sixty-five million adults in the U.S. have dropped out of active church attendance, and about 2.7 million more are leaving every year.” And that statistic is from 2018-19, before the pandemic. 3

Meanwhile, the United States has more atheists than ever…

This article is excerpted from my book, Leaving and Finding Jesus
Order Now At AMAZON.COM

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Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva. Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… Seed

by Lloyd Clark | September 25, 2019 | Articles, Faith, Lloyd's Corner, Relationship, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments

Take your desires and plant them in your heart, meditate on them. You don’t have to know how it works, you just need to know that it super-naturally produces like a seed.

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Published on January 16, 2023 09:26

A Hard Teaching?

“Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” That visceral word picture capped a message Jesus gave to a large crowd of followers. (10)

On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” “This is the hard stuff,” they thought.

But it wasn’t the hard stuff—just the opposite. It was a prophetic invitation to communion, a description of our participation in union, an invitation to consume and embody Christ within us. The words Jesus spoke, as He went on to explain, were “full of Spirit and life!” (11) The disciples just didn’t understand them—yet.

Jesus’ message revealed how Measureless Love reconciles and restores all humanity to Himself. Jesus’ words contained an invitation for the disciples to leave their limiting certainties and lean into faith. It was an invitation to engage with the Emmaus Road burning that cries out from deep within, “We knew eternal life in our hearts even when our heads heard cannibalism.”

“Does this offend you?” the Emmaus Road Jesus asked His disciples. For many, it did, and understandably so. “From this time, many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.

‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’ Jesus asked the Twelve.

Simon Peter answered, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that You are the Holy One of God.’” (12)

How had Peter and the remaining disciples come to believe that Jesus was the Holy One of God? That’s a good question.

In hindsight, we know their belief wasn’t extra-biblical, but neither, at that moment, could they have referenced chapter and verse. So, they hadn’t “come to believe” based on their current understanding of Scripture—nor was it because Jesus broke down His systematic theology. There was no biblical exegesis, just the Word Who Became Flesh speaking to burning hearts.

This was not an exercise in literal inerrancy. Rather, this was about faith. The disciples had come to believe and know that Jesus was the Holy One of God because, in the context of relationship, they recognized eternal life as the nuclear explosion burning within them when The Word Made Flesh spoke to them.

“You have the words of eternal life,” Peter said, trusting a measureless love that transcends dimensions of time and space, as well as finite understanding. Because they stewarded the burning, the disciples were not put off by their inability to understand Jesus’ offensive words.

They had “come to believe” God was better than their best understanding and current biblical interpretation.

It’s called faith.

This faith is discovered in the One who laid His life down for His friends, and this burning is the only way we can know God and truly interpret Scripture.

When our experiences and understanding seem like hard stuff, cruciform love and resurrection life can be trusted. And where we can trust, we don’t have to understand.

“…Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you….” There was literal error in Jesus’ words, but because the disciples were in a maturing relationship with Greater Love, even though they literally heard Jesus preach cannibalism, their hearts knew Jesus wasn’t preaching cannibalism…

This article is excerpted from my book, Leaving and Finding Jesus
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Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva.

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by Lloyd Clark | October 2, 2019 | Articles, Faith, Lloyd's Corner, Relationship, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments

Oh so grateful to be free from the self-inflicting, self condemning, judgmental and pompous BS…

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Published on January 04, 2023 15:01

What Is God Like with Troy Mangum

What Is God Like? with Troy Mangum Kindling Fire with Troy Mangum · 183. What's God Like?- Jason L. Clark- Kindling Fire with Troy Mangum

What is God like? with Troy Mangum

A few months back, I had a great conversation with Troy Mangum, author of, Fatherhood Faceplants and host of, The Kindling Fire Podcast. Troy is a former YWAM missionary, hardcore punk singer, substance abuse counselor, busker, long boarder, exotic fruit farmer, vert skater, singer-songwriter, software engineering manager, traveling hitchhiker, and seminary dropout.

Check out more about Troy’s ministries here: troymangum.com
Check out Troy’s podcast:
Apple Podcast
Spotify

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Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva. Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… I Exist To Know His Love

by Jason Clark | March 23, 2013 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, Parenting, Prone To Love, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments

My story and yours will continue to be one in which we discover our Dad and in turn ourselves. Discovering our Father is the most important thing we will ever do. It transforms us and sets us free to live as His sons and daughters. The good news is, Jesus was sure in his identity and because of this, we can also become sure in ours…

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Published on December 29, 2022 18:46

Every Breath I Breathe

Every Breath I Breathe A Prayer For The New Year

Oh, Poppa, it’s a beautiful day!

You’re comfortable in my skin, and I am comfortable being Your skin…Christ in me!

You are here, in me and around me, filling every atom and cell, absorbing every bit of darkness, every lie, every distortion. Every breath I breathe,

Yahweh.

Whispering praise,

completely at rest,

expectancy rising.

Thank You, Father, that I get to live in You today!

This is our day.

Light up our world today.

Every city, every county, and every state throughout this nation. Peace be still!

Light up this world with Your truth and Your love.

You’ve got this, and I can rest right here, right now!

A Prayer

My crafted morning prayer goes something like this.

With one hand on my head and the other over my heart.

“Oh, Father, thank you, thank You, thank You, that I get to live in You today! This is the day that You made! I rejoice in it!

Thank You for this union, this oneness with, and in You! I soak in Your love today…

Christ in me, yes, it’s Christ in me, every day as I am on my way, it is Christ in me!

In You, I live, move, and have my being!

Today I live from this place of rest, fullness, bounty, wholeness, wellness, affection, and love!

Peace flowing like a River!

The fountain of joy welling up into life!

Thank you, Jesus! For giving life to me!

May everything I do become the thing that pleases You…

Amen.

Love you, Lloyd
Happy New Year!

Lloyd Clark is an entrepreneur, a former pastor, and a writer. He is passionate about being loved by our Heavenly Father and revealing that same love to everyone he meets. He and his wife Mary have 5 children and 7 grandchildren and live in North Carolina. Follow Follow Follow Follow ORDER NOW!

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by Jason Clark | August 26, 2021 | Art, Articles, Faith, Intimacy, Leadership, Life, Music, Popular | 0 Comments

Love is how I address politics, religion, culture, the news cycle, nationalism, the United Nations, COVID, Vaccines, flat earthers, and misplaced trust in corporations and government…