Francis Schaeffer

Through Justin at http://www.radicalcongruency.com, I "discovered" Francis Schaeffer for the first time. Need to ask my pastor and others about what they think of him. I am intrigued, especially as he looks to have competent answers for those whose faith has to be based strongly in reason. He is also trumpeted as the most read apologist outside of C.S. Lewis.

The site that is all FS all the time is: http://www.rationalpi.com/theshelter/index.html.

Poem

A cousin sent this, and it struck home today.

I AM A CHRISTIAN by Maya Angelou
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin."
I 'm whispering "I was lost,"
Now I'm found and forgiven.

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble
and need CHRIST to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not trying to be strong.

I'm professing that I'm weak

and need HIS strength to carry on.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
and need God to clean my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
but, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain,
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
who received God's good grace, somehow.

Author ~Maya Angelou~

Judgement

Thinking about tracking my church's spiritual growth brings to mind Yeshua's teaching on judgement - "log out of your own eye". I had better focus on that development before I go describing/analyzing my church.

How/when do I know the log is out of my eye?

"I get up. I walk. I fall down. Meanwhile, I keep dancing!" -Rabbi Hillel the Elder (c.60BCE-20CE)

What should this blog be?

I will not make this a daily dairy. What is interesting to others is private things I would not share in this venue, and the rest is too tedious and mundane to be worth reading.

If I focus on one aspect of spiritual development, I would easily begin to overfocus on that aspect, and trying to cover all aspects would make my spiritual journal public, which is not my desire.

I could journal the spiritual growth of my church. Would that be dangerous? There is a lot of sin to work through there. Dangerous for me to focus on too much. Maybe if I focused on the positive, and the hope, reporting where I see God working....

Keeping posts short will help too!

An observation

In thinking about writing, I think about all the blog reading I have done. I believe it is more work reading all the interesting blogs than writing your own blog could be.

In the beginning...

So, I start a blog.

I don't have time, but we will see.