The Moment Before the Moment

from Mars Hill, by Rob Bell
(Download MP3)

This Sunday’s experience at Gateway reminded me of this moment from the past. It seems to me that Rob’s thoughts on ADVENT are a great companion piece to John’s thoughts on quieting ourselves to hear God.

The bigness of the connected reality of Jesus’ communities is so beautiful to me... and I consider it such a blessing that we can hear little glimpses of what he’s up to all around us.

May he whisper clearly and directly to you personally!


Side note (if for some reason you find yourself still reading this far in)...

If you’re ever curious as to why I include links.... I carry a deep conviction that we should not just accept all information that passes our way. It seems of great significance that we should explore carefully the questions and claims that we our offered in every moment through so many sources.

more resources on hearing God

Hearing God: Developing a Conversation Relationship with God by Dallas Willard
Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
The Power of a Whisper: Hearing God, Having the Guts to Respond by Bill Hybels
NOOMA Noise 005 Rob Bell

Ecclesiastes – Lessons in Vapor Management

from Mars Hill by Rob Bell
(download here)

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

This week Rob challenges our understanding of wisdom and traditional wisdom teaching as he introduces Mar Hill’s new series on Ecclesiastes. As we dive into a reality beyond the right and the wrong choice.

Time to Make a Change

from Mosaic by Erwin McManus
(Download MP3)

14 This is what the LORD says—
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“For your sake I will send to Babylon
and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians,
in the ships in which they took pride.
15 I am the LORD, your Holy One,
Israel’s Creator, your King.”
16 This is what the LORD says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
17 who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.

Isaiah 43:14-21 (NIV 2010, emphasis mine)


May we all be drawl into our future by the passion of our God,
...not propelled forward by the inevitability of our past.

the hidden announcement

Do you like skipping stones? I like skipping stones... I mean its fun and clearly you can cover a greater distance across the water.

But, sometimes I'll grab a big rock and just toss it into the water and watch as it drops straight in and creates one single magnificent explosion. I am overwhelmed by the power of that single impact and I watch as the ripples stretch toward the shore.

In my experience thus far listening to Shane Hips teach from Grand Rapids is the opposite of skipping stones. There is a deep resonate peace to prayerfully thinking deeply and critically about God's word.

This week Shane camps out on the story of Jesus' birth in the biography by Luke posing the question.

... How are we hearing God, or what kind of an announcement should we be listening for?

The Hidden Announcement

(download MP3)

May we all share the good news because we just can't contain it!