Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 318
March 13, 2014
Planning for leftovers.
A person has some loaves of bread.A teacher says to hand them out to a crowd.A follower says that there is now way there will be enough food for everyone.The teacher says to pass out the bread.Everyone is fed. There are leftovers.
That’s a story that sound familiar to many people. They start to fill in details. Weren’t there fish, too? Was the follower Andrew? Weren’t there about 15,000 people? Wasn’t the teacher Jesus?
That is one story with bread and a crowd. It’s in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and...
March 12, 2014
They did not know what he was talking about.
Sometimes I want to know what’s going to happen next. I worry about it. I identify options. I want God to simplify things and just tell me his plans and how they fit with mine.
The twelve disciples may have thought the same things one day as they traveled with Jesus. They thought, perhaps, that after three years Jesus was pretty close to them. And one day, Jesus took them aside and told them exactly what was going to happen next.
“We’re going up to Jerusalem,” he said. “And everything that is w...
March 11, 2014
13 ways to be more like Jesus
Do the things he said to do. Like any good teacher, the learning often happens by practicing, not just listening. Too often we expect perfection. Perhaps he didn’t. At first.
Do things the way he did them. How did he live his life? What if we attached realistic time to the verbs? Walked from here to there. Spent time.
Spend time with him. Conversation, hanging out, assuming that silence is presence rather than assuming it is judgment or...
March 10, 2014
Like acid in a cut.
We’re struggling with some serious illness in our extended family. Hope was talking about it with a friend the other day. “It will be okay,” he said. “No it won’t,” she said.People will die. In the process they will hurt. Their minds will not work right. And other people will get hurt.
That’s why I loved the proverb I read the other day.
Like one who takes away a garment on a cold day,or like vinegar poured on a wound,is one who sings songs to a heavy heart. Proverbs 25:20
Nancy read it, too, an...
March 9, 2014
A prayer for Monday.
(First published October 8, 2012)
It happens every Monday morning.
Every Monday is a restart of our pilgrimage. Every Monday we say, “I want this week to be different. I want to be more committed, more caring, more thoughtful, more loving, more focused, more significant, more successful.”
And then we open our eyes. And shuffle to the mirror.And the words of the psalmist become words in our bathroom: “I call on the Lord in my distress.”
Our resolve and our dreams and our plans run into “lying lips...
March 6, 2014
Who is this man?
The storm is getting worse by the minute. The small boat they are crossing the lake in is taking on so much water that it’s about to sink. He’s asleep in the back, even though water is splashing across his robe and the boat is rocking wildly. Who is this man?
They wake him up. “Don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” He gets up and tells the storm to be still. Deathly calm spreads across the lake. The clouds disappear and sun comes out. Who is this man?
I invite you to find out more about th...
March 5, 2014
The worst day of the year
Jesus said, “But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting.” It’s clear that Jesus was speaking before the amazing power of coffee beans was released.
Yesterday, many people gave up caffeine for Lent. Today, they are waking up. They are taking a couple Excedrin for the pain relief and the caffeine. And they are wondering whether Jesus would mind so much if they just had one cup. Because it’s really obvious that they ar...
March 4, 2014
A fish story.
It was the best day of fishing ever. But it started as the worst.
Seven guys working together tossing out the big net across the water. Letting it sink. Pulling it in.
Nothing.
Row a bit further. Toss out the big net across the surface of the water. Let it sink. Pull it in.
Nothing. All night long, professional fishers working in their home waters, the waters that have supported their families for generations.
Row a bit further. Toss out the big net across the surface of the water. Let it sink. Pu...
March 3, 2014
Interesting talk about the boring parts of Exodus.
“Is it okay if I sort of skim through the end of Exodus?” my friend said. ”Those details about assembling the ark and the curtains and the tabernacle get really long.”
He’s reading through the Bible for the second time. The first time took him three years. Now he’s doing it again to pick up what he might have missed. He was asking our Wednesday night men’s Bible study group. We talked about the challenge of lists of how many curtains and how many loops on each curtain (See Exodus 26 for a samp...
March 2, 2014
What if you decided to read the Bible?
What if you simply decided to spend seven weeks reading the Bible? For a couple months setting aside the usual distractional reading, the escape reading, the three-minute-break reading, the just-one-more-link reading. Making the Bible be your reading while you fall asleep, while you are waking up, while you are in the bathroom, while you are avoiding other work. Perhaps even making the Bible your self-improvement reading, your how-to-get-ahead-by-starting-my-own-business reading.
At some point...