Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 311

June 18, 2014

The boy who got what he didn’t deserve

This is the second part of the funeral message from Monday.


“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ And he arose and came to his father.


But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and fel...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on June 18, 2014 23:03

June 17, 2014

The boy who had it coming.

I spoke at a funeral Monday morning. This is the beginning of the story I told:


A man named Luke gathered stories about Jesus. He wrote,


Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”


For some reason that seems strange to us, people who felt really uncomfortable in church loved listening to Jesus whenever they could. And the people who felt a little too comfortable in church...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on June 17, 2014 23:59

June 16, 2014

Being a model

First published January 25, 2011


Am I living a life I’d want someone to copy?


Why not?


Those two sentences found their way into my journal over the weekend, as I was thinking about a presentation I’ve got coming up. I’m going to talk about being and making disciples. (That subject has shown up as myone wordand in my list of8 waysto get better at following.)


As I thought about the idea of making disciples, of developing followers, I realized that part of making a disciple is being willing to be a...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on June 16, 2014 23:54

June 15, 2014

A way to request a mentor.

Sometimes we need coaching but we don’t know how to ask. Feel free to use this as a template.


Dear ___


I need a mentor. I pick you.


I’m pretty sure that thought scares you. You’re sure that you don’t know anything well enough to share. You spend so much time feeling like you aren’t measuring up, that you aren’t grown up, that you aren’t expert enough to teach anything. And you look at people who call themselves gurus and experts and you are even more insecure. “If people who are that reckless an...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on June 15, 2014 23:19

June 12, 2014

What do I do with what I learn?

First published August 19, 2010


That’s a significant question.


We read. A lot. We hear. A lot. We say A lot.


And then we live. A lot.


Some of us are very comfortable keeping the input and the output separate. Some of us avoid the hard work of taking the interesting ideas we hear and the fascinating role models we read about and working to understand how all of that would work in real life, in our lives.


But you know what? Most of us actually are trying to make a connection. Most of us are attempti...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on June 12, 2014 23:45

June 11, 2014

Mnemonics

Jesus was talking about different kinds of dirt. Dirt that is full of rocks does allow seeds to sprout, but there is no place for the roots to go. The eager sprouts die with hot sun and no roots.


Our hearts pick up all kinds of stones, all kinds of hard places. Little conflicts. Big betrayals. Persistent resistance. They accumulate. A day at a time, almost without noticing. Eventually, they fill most of the space under the layer of polite topsoil. Seeds start, ideas germinate, and then burn up...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on June 11, 2014 23:33

June 10, 2014

Tomorrow.

Sometimes, after you wonder about something for three years, after you worry and work toward it for six months, after it actually happens, you need to be quiet while looking for words. This is one of those days.


See you tomorrow.


Filed under: bible reading
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on June 10, 2014 23:43

June 9, 2014

No more rocks.

On Easter Sunday, I picked up a rock. On Easter Monday, I thought, “pick up a rock every day.”


Was it a voice from God? Was it brainstorming? Was it something else? I don’t know for sure. But I picked up a rock.


Several stories made sense as I moved ahead with picking up a rock every day. Some of them I have used to help you and me think through some things.


1. Picking up a rock every day teaches us about forming habits. We could pick up a wheelbarrow worth every six weeks, but we wouldn’t learn...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on June 09, 2014 23:10

June 8, 2014

Giving away a piece of your life.

A few years ago, I took some small stones to a conference. They were from a little gravel path Nancy and I made in our backyard. I took them to the conference because I was going to see people face-to-face who I had only talked with online. They were tangible evidence that we had met, that I came from a real place and knew they did as well.


That’s why I have small stones from Brazil, a river in Thailand, the floor of a church in a dump in Ethiopia, the floor of a home in Haiti, a hill in Oklah...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on June 08, 2014 23:44

June 6, 2014

Totally different values

We forget. I forget.


Almost all over this planet, we are surrounded by the message that the richer you are, the better your life will be. Everywhere we turn, we hear and see messages that we need to:



have our dishes washed by a better machine
drive a newer car
eat tasty food prepared by someone else
have more time to relax
work less for greater gain
have bigger closets to hold more contemporary clothes
send our kids to a better college
have a beautiful garden that someone else tends
feel insulated from...
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on June 06, 2014 00:01