Hello, my friend!
Featured today are posts by Michelle DeRusha, Sarah Bessey, Amber Haines, Logan Wolfram, Roo Ciambreillo, Ann Voskamp, Lisa Jo Baker, a post from right here, and - of course - a video to wrap it all up!
~ That Thing I Do Now ~
Volume 102
Volume 102
Happy Reading! (Ya'll know to click on the authors' names below to read the entire post, yes?)
* This one by Michelle DeRusha with I’m a Nice White Person; What Does Charleston Have to Do with Me?...
"When something like the Charleston massacre or the death of Eric Garner or Trayvon Martin happens, my reaction has typically been one of sadness, empathy and compassion mixed with a feeling of exemption. When black commentators and bloggers and tweeters write about their frustration, anger and grief over these events, part of me feels exempt from the conversation and maybe even a little bit self-righteous.
“At least I’m not a racist,” I reassure myself.
When my black peers talk about the problem of rampant racism in America, I’m confident their comments don’t pertain to me. The problem of racism in America, I assure myself, has nothing to do with me, because even though I’m white, I’m nice. I’m not racist. That’s pretty much what I tell myself. And with that, I let myself off the hook.
Friends, I am wrong. This problem of racism in America has every bit as much to do with me."
* This post by Sarah Bessey with Famous...
"Love is well-known and easily identified, it needs no stage and no bestseller status. God is famous in the family dinners and protest marches, in the re-reading of a favourite book to small children and in Wednesday night Bible studies open to the public, in the prayers of the unknown and the faith of the uncelebrated.
I wonder if fame is more a construct of our celebrity-obsession, but God isn’t the new celebrity to brand and make palatable for the masses – there is too much complexity and wildness for God; God won’t obey the spreadsheets.
It’s resurrection, resurrection, resurrection. Bringing the dead things to life, life into dry bones, beauty from ashes, sorrow to joy, day after day, choice after choice, step after step towards glory.
I think the greatest sanctification of my life happens far from fame, it’s repetitive and practiced. Making God famous might begin with walking away from our constructs or ideas of fame. Perhaps God is hiding in plain sight, off-stage, in the whispers, in the beauty, in the ride home in the dark after the big event has packed up and moved on like a circus."
* This post from Amber Haines over at the RunaMuck with On a Regular Day: the Terrible and the Fantastic...
"A friend recently told me I had better enjoy this part of the book process, so I’m going to try. I won’t shy back about it, but I do intend to be regular, and when I write regular, please read REGLER. That’s how I say it.
As it turns out, regler is rather fantastic. Terrible and fantastic.
On Thursday, we got the call that Grandma Haines took a little nap and went to be with Jesus. She was 95. She kept saying, “Well, Amber, I don’t know why the Lord keeps letting me live.” Her friends have been gone for years, her husband for 7 years.
When I heard, I burst out laughing! It was the strangest response. I cried, too, but mostly I laughed like one who had walked up on a surprise party. It’s outrageous. On a regular day, she took a regular nap, and then the thing she talked about for nearly a century happened. Her simple faith and all her simple prayers led to this. She got to see her Jesus, and I believe it with all my heart.
Our day is coming, friends. Who are any of us to pretend we are more than what we are? Who am I to complicate this terrible and fantastic life with so many thoughts about myself that I miss how grand are the regular things?"
* This post by Logan Wolfram with Battles and Brokenness...
"I grieve the brokenness that happens in private for people, and I grieve the brokenness that makes its way public for people the Lord has used in mighty ways. I grieve the way that the enemy endeavors to wipe out faithfulness of God’s people with egregious public sin. I grieve the way that the church itself crucifies the faithful of years when they misstep and their brokenness and humanity come crashing over them in waves.
Can we stop picking at the logs in other eyes and focus on the specks of our own? Can we not disqualify the mighty ways people have been used in the past, even when they rub up against their own brokenness for all to see in the present? I’m not saying we start handing out hall passes all the time for us to wallow in our own sin and to live deceiving one another, but I am saying, can we extend grace instead of crucifying one another? Can we pray for families we see being wrecked by poor choices instead of chaining them to unforgiveness? Can we support one another and pray harder when we see the ways that God desires to use those around us? Can we set aside bitterness and jealousy and selfishness and celebrate successes and pray more fervently when we see larger targets being drawn on the backs of those around us?"
* This post by Roo Ciambriello over at Semiproper with A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO BECOMING AN ALLY TO THE BLACK COMMUNITY...
“Lately it seems like we haven’t gone two weeks without a high-profile event regarding race getting kicked up in the media. And while a lot of people I know who are passionate about social justice get vocal about it, a number of people around me are surprisingly silent. The silence came up recently among a group of friends, and the general response was “I want to do something, but 1) I don’t know how or where to start. 2) I’m afraid of saying the wrong thing. 3) I don’t understand ______.”
Until I made a deliberate move to dig in and start figuring it all out for me, I did much of the same. Here’s a gentle primer (from an expert on absolutely nothing, so take it all with a pinch of salt — and feel free to add to it) on what you can do to become an ally to the black community and help eradicate racism.”
* This post from Ann Voskamp with something to hold on to when you’re tired & the world’s broke your heart a bit…
"Sometimes you just need someone to storm heaven for you
Sometimes you just need someone to hoarse whisper it for you —
“Father of the Tired & Broken-Hearted…
oh, hear our prayer….
Give Your Child the wisdom to know it this week:
Hiding when you’re hurting won’t heal you and growing isolated can just let infection grow.
Give Your Child the love to live it:
The secret way to heal a broken heart is to let love leak out like an ocean through all the cracks.
Give Your Child grace to do the crazy impossible:
It’s the hurting and wounded who are always the ones called to be medics — to administer lavish grace, to cast the messy in the best, merciful light.
The best way to tend to your open wounds is to open your arms."
* This post by Lisa Jo Baker with When It's OK to Be Sad...
"On the last day of school my sons got in the car and my older one held his hand tenderly to his chest and told me, “I’m just so sad.” And I looked over at him as we passed all the rows of waving teachers and friends and people and places that have been his whole world for the last seven years and I ached with him.
As I watched those blue eyes well up behind his glasses I wanted to reach over and swat away the pain and tell him that everything’s gonna be fine and he’ll find so many new friends, that one day he won’t even remember his sadness.
But today is not that day.
Today I reminded myself that crying honors the friendships that have been so dear to us.
So instead, I reached over and put my hand on top of his — right over his beautiful, strong, nine-year-old heart that feels everything so deeply and I let my own eyes spill over. And I told him that crying is good. Because crying means you’ve loved someone with your whole heart. You’ve let people into your life and your dreams and part of you will stay with them when you move and that means that part of your will have a rip in it.
Loving people means actually giving pieces of ourselves away.
And we’ve loved big in this neighborhood.
And kids love bigger than even we adults manage most of the time.
Kids aren’t stingy – they give away chunks of their hearts.
So we honored those holes on the last day of school and me and the kids had a good cry in the car and named the friends we’re going to miss.
I’m going to miss my friend Lisa so badly it deserves tears. Tears say, “I was loved and I loved you.” Tears testify to the deep, daily glory of ordinary, around-the-corner friendship. The kind of friendship that makes the ordinary extraordinary.
So we cried and then we all went out for ice cream. Because ice cream is its own special ministry too.
And then we moved."
* This one from right HERE with The Danger of Doubt and How It Robs Us...
"My heart breaks for Charleston, for our country, for this divide and hatred and our (my) own ignorance.
Honestly, until recently, I didn't really know that racism was still a thing. I mean sure, in pockets and areas. Every once in a while a random event would cause ugliness to surface close to home. But I had no clue to what was so glaringly obvious to so many others.
For that, I am sorry.
And I am awake now.
I don't want to write about racism. Not because I don't think it's a problem or because I think it's too 'hot button' or whatever, but because there are so many others who are so much better informed, equipped, educated... who are already saying it! People I love and respect like Deidra Riggs, Alia Joy, Colleen Mitchell, Lisha Epperson, Preston Yancey, and more.
But I also think that I'm not sure WHAT to say or to do to bridge the gap and help heal the hurt, but I want to say and do something! I am pretty sure that I am not alone here, so for those of us in this boat - we must speak up. Just say something.
Say, "I see you."
Say, "I stand with you."
Say, "I'm here."
Can we be bold and just start from here?
Say, "I don't understand, but I want to."
Ask, "What can I do? How can I help?"
Our nervous silence does no good. "
“At least I’m not a racist,” I reassure myself.
When my black peers talk about the problem of rampant racism in America, I’m confident their comments don’t pertain to me. The problem of racism in America, I assure myself, has nothing to do with me, because even though I’m white, I’m nice. I’m not racist. That’s pretty much what I tell myself. And with that, I let myself off the hook.
Friends, I am wrong. This problem of racism in America has every bit as much to do with me."
* This post by Sarah Bessey with Famous...
"Love is well-known and easily identified, it needs no stage and no bestseller status. God is famous in the family dinners and protest marches, in the re-reading of a favourite book to small children and in Wednesday night Bible studies open to the public, in the prayers of the unknown and the faith of the uncelebrated.
I wonder if fame is more a construct of our celebrity-obsession, but God isn’t the new celebrity to brand and make palatable for the masses – there is too much complexity and wildness for God; God won’t obey the spreadsheets.
It’s resurrection, resurrection, resurrection. Bringing the dead things to life, life into dry bones, beauty from ashes, sorrow to joy, day after day, choice after choice, step after step towards glory.
I think the greatest sanctification of my life happens far from fame, it’s repetitive and practiced. Making God famous might begin with walking away from our constructs or ideas of fame. Perhaps God is hiding in plain sight, off-stage, in the whispers, in the beauty, in the ride home in the dark after the big event has packed up and moved on like a circus."
* This post from Amber Haines over at the RunaMuck with On a Regular Day: the Terrible and the Fantastic...
"A friend recently told me I had better enjoy this part of the book process, so I’m going to try. I won’t shy back about it, but I do intend to be regular, and when I write regular, please read REGLER. That’s how I say it.
As it turns out, regler is rather fantastic. Terrible and fantastic.
On Thursday, we got the call that Grandma Haines took a little nap and went to be with Jesus. She was 95. She kept saying, “Well, Amber, I don’t know why the Lord keeps letting me live.” Her friends have been gone for years, her husband for 7 years.
When I heard, I burst out laughing! It was the strangest response. I cried, too, but mostly I laughed like one who had walked up on a surprise party. It’s outrageous. On a regular day, she took a regular nap, and then the thing she talked about for nearly a century happened. Her simple faith and all her simple prayers led to this. She got to see her Jesus, and I believe it with all my heart.
Our day is coming, friends. Who are any of us to pretend we are more than what we are? Who am I to complicate this terrible and fantastic life with so many thoughts about myself that I miss how grand are the regular things?"
"I grieve the brokenness that happens in private for people, and I grieve the brokenness that makes its way public for people the Lord has used in mighty ways. I grieve the way that the enemy endeavors to wipe out faithfulness of God’s people with egregious public sin. I grieve the way that the church itself crucifies the faithful of years when they misstep and their brokenness and humanity come crashing over them in waves.
Can we stop picking at the logs in other eyes and focus on the specks of our own? Can we not disqualify the mighty ways people have been used in the past, even when they rub up against their own brokenness for all to see in the present? I’m not saying we start handing out hall passes all the time for us to wallow in our own sin and to live deceiving one another, but I am saying, can we extend grace instead of crucifying one another? Can we pray for families we see being wrecked by poor choices instead of chaining them to unforgiveness? Can we support one another and pray harder when we see the ways that God desires to use those around us? Can we set aside bitterness and jealousy and selfishness and celebrate successes and pray more fervently when we see larger targets being drawn on the backs of those around us?"
* This post by Roo Ciambriello over at Semiproper with A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO BECOMING AN ALLY TO THE BLACK COMMUNITY...
“Lately it seems like we haven’t gone two weeks without a high-profile event regarding race getting kicked up in the media. And while a lot of people I know who are passionate about social justice get vocal about it, a number of people around me are surprisingly silent. The silence came up recently among a group of friends, and the general response was “I want to do something, but 1) I don’t know how or where to start. 2) I’m afraid of saying the wrong thing. 3) I don’t understand ______.”
Until I made a deliberate move to dig in and start figuring it all out for me, I did much of the same. Here’s a gentle primer (from an expert on absolutely nothing, so take it all with a pinch of salt — and feel free to add to it) on what you can do to become an ally to the black community and help eradicate racism.”
* This post from Ann Voskamp with something to hold on to when you’re tired & the world’s broke your heart a bit…
"Sometimes you just need someone to storm heaven for you
Sometimes you just need someone to hoarse whisper it for you —
“Father of the Tired & Broken-Hearted…
oh, hear our prayer….
Give Your Child the wisdom to know it this week:
Hiding when you’re hurting won’t heal you and growing isolated can just let infection grow.
Give Your Child the love to live it:
The secret way to heal a broken heart is to let love leak out like an ocean through all the cracks.
Give Your Child grace to do the crazy impossible:
It’s the hurting and wounded who are always the ones called to be medics — to administer lavish grace, to cast the messy in the best, merciful light.
The best way to tend to your open wounds is to open your arms."
* This post by Lisa Jo Baker with When It's OK to Be Sad...
"On the last day of school my sons got in the car and my older one held his hand tenderly to his chest and told me, “I’m just so sad.” And I looked over at him as we passed all the rows of waving teachers and friends and people and places that have been his whole world for the last seven years and I ached with him.
As I watched those blue eyes well up behind his glasses I wanted to reach over and swat away the pain and tell him that everything’s gonna be fine and he’ll find so many new friends, that one day he won’t even remember his sadness.
But today is not that day.
Today I reminded myself that crying honors the friendships that have been so dear to us.
So instead, I reached over and put my hand on top of his — right over his beautiful, strong, nine-year-old heart that feels everything so deeply and I let my own eyes spill over. And I told him that crying is good. Because crying means you’ve loved someone with your whole heart. You’ve let people into your life and your dreams and part of you will stay with them when you move and that means that part of your will have a rip in it.
Loving people means actually giving pieces of ourselves away.
And we’ve loved big in this neighborhood.
And kids love bigger than even we adults manage most of the time.
Kids aren’t stingy – they give away chunks of their hearts.
So we honored those holes on the last day of school and me and the kids had a good cry in the car and named the friends we’re going to miss.
I’m going to miss my friend Lisa so badly it deserves tears. Tears say, “I was loved and I loved you.” Tears testify to the deep, daily glory of ordinary, around-the-corner friendship. The kind of friendship that makes the ordinary extraordinary.
So we cried and then we all went out for ice cream. Because ice cream is its own special ministry too.
And then we moved."
* This one from right HERE with The Danger of Doubt and How It Robs Us...
"My heart breaks for Charleston, for our country, for this divide and hatred and our (my) own ignorance.
Honestly, until recently, I didn't really know that racism was still a thing. I mean sure, in pockets and areas. Every once in a while a random event would cause ugliness to surface close to home. But I had no clue to what was so glaringly obvious to so many others.
For that, I am sorry.
And I am awake now.
I don't want to write about racism. Not because I don't think it's a problem or because I think it's too 'hot button' or whatever, but because there are so many others who are so much better informed, equipped, educated... who are already saying it! People I love and respect like Deidra Riggs, Alia Joy, Colleen Mitchell, Lisha Epperson, Preston Yancey, and more.
But I also think that I'm not sure WHAT to say or to do to bridge the gap and help heal the hurt, but I want to say and do something! I am pretty sure that I am not alone here, so for those of us in this boat - we must speak up. Just say something.
Say, "I see you."
Say, "I stand with you."
Say, "I'm here."
Can we be bold and just start from here?
Say, "I don't understand, but I want to."
Ask, "What can I do? How can I help?"
Our nervous silence does no good. "
Lastly, we close This Thing up with a video each week and sometimes it is funny and sometimes it is worship... this time, you guys - we need something light! Since I tend to defer to Jimmy Fallon, but I am fasting tv this month, I will share this instead...
Enjoy! (Watch them all!)
Happy Weekend!
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Thanks so much for stopping by! I always love to hear your thoughts! Remember to: Speak Life - Be Love - Shine On!
~Karrilee~