Day twenty-nine...Simplicity is longing.

I don't sing in front of anyone... except my kids. And that's just because I made a promise to my wife that I would sing for them at bedtime. She wanted the kids to remember me singing to them the way that her dad and grandfather did.

Unfortunately Kids, Daddy doesn't have the Bing Crosby/ Jackson Browne voice like your grandfathers. Mine is more like the scratchy sting of nettle while being chased by the Queen's lovely swans.

However, I have determined myself to the goal of teaching the Sunday school class the following song by Rich Mullins, If I Stand.



Just remember, the louder you sing along, the less likely you will hear me...

Home has always been an interesting concept for me. Sometimes home has meant comfort and chocolate chip cookies. Sometimes home has been a church home. At other times, home was a collection of gathering places where family and friends gather together. Longing for those times, a nap in our library, the joy of a newly organized closet(how this blog all got started), time with my folks on the road to my grandparents...

And all this talk in church about a heavenly home...

Our "stuff of earth," as Rich Mullins puts it, does often compete with the allegiance to our heavenly Father... There are places on earth that I treasure and look forward to returning to...often. Cowpasture River, the Meher Baba Spiritual Center, SCOTLAND (where we met such lovely and dear friends), the banks of Deltaville (Scallop Bay) and the Appalachian Trail which whispers my name...waiting patiently for me to visit on my days off! I have made connections to these places because I often see them as places of rest. I have felt a longing for these memorable destinations because of experiences which I have had there with my family and friends.

There are many more places I look forward to visiting. This spring, I have set apart some time to take some dear friends on a trip to scatter my birth-father's ashes. His family mentioned that he often requested to be sent down the river when his time had come. I will honor that request with a canoe trip in just a few months. Just have to come up with the rest of the money for my kayak!

Reading Rich Mullin's biographical devotional book, An Arrow Pointing to Heaven (James Bryant Smith) was an incredible journey and a welcomed challenge for me. Rich lived and breathed the gospel. He longed to be like Christ. Constantly. He read more, listened more and lived his life more fully that I believe I have ever allowed myself. In many different writings, he mentioned that he would not be afraid to leave this world. There would be no sorrow for him. With the dedication of the great Sun Ra (Le Sony'r Ra), Rich reached out to his creator.

He also, like Christ, had no home, no family which allowed both of these men the opportunity to live the gospel life more fully. But do I have to lose everything to follow Christ?

I have a family that I adore. I am blessed with a wife who understands and appreciates me. My parents taught me self-sufficiency. I have a few very strong personal friendships which recharge me when I meet these people along the road of life.

At the end of the day, I long to curl up with my little ones, read a little Roald Dahl and snuggle up to my wife with a cup of tea.

A bible verse that speaks to me is John 17:4. Jesus says, at the end of his ministry,
"I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work you have given me to do."

Personally, I see this as Jesus' example to us to live this life to the best of our abilities, whatever happens to come our way. For me, I will strive to be a more tender husband, a better father and an observant friend. I long to be a more professional teacher and a better steward, while I am here on this earth.

More and more simply each day.

I think this is why this particular song reaches to me, If I Stand.

The words...
There's more that rises in the morning
Than the sun
And more that shines in the night
Than just the moon
It's more than just this fire here
That keeps me warm
In a shelter that is larger
Than this room

And there's a loyalty that's deeper
Than mere sentiments
And a music higher than the songs
That I can sing
The stuff of Earth competes
For the allegiance
I owe only to the giver
Of all good things

CHORUS:
So if I stand let me stand on the promise
That you will pull me through
And if I can't, let me fall on the grace
That first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy
That has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man
Who is longing for his home

There's more that dances on the prairies
Than the wind
More that pulses in the ocean
Than the tide
There's a love that is fiercer
Than the love between friends
More gentle than a mother's
When her baby's at her side

And there's a loyalty that's deeper
Than mere sentiments
And a music higher than the songs
That I can sing
The stuff of Earth competes
For the allegiance
I owe only to the Giver
Of all good things

CHORUS(2x)

And if I weep let it be as a man
Who is longing for his home

Notice that Rich points to longing for a relationship with God - stronger than those within our families and friends. He reminds us that we should give God that honor, as well. The same way we would welcome our friends into our homes... we should make a space for God... make time within our crazy schedules for time with him in prayer, in praise and in worship.

So, along this path, I am learning to see God in my love for my family and in the way I learn from my children. I have found more reasons to thank God...not just for his creation in the natural world, but also for his leadership in the dark places of life as well. In those welcoming morning smiles, in the gatherings around our table for celebrations and dominoes... Just as I long for these times, I feel compelled to reach further in my life, to serve the God of my creation. I am thankful for his guiding hand, leading me to the wonderful people and places in my life. I am challenged today to depend more on God, to come to him in times of need and in contentment, and to look for him more often in the wonderful people he puts in my path.

Link of the day...
http://www.rvihn.com/ - Roanoke Interfaith Hospitality Network - a temporary home for those trying to build a future

Quote of the day...
“The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing — to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from — my country, the place where I ought to have been born. Do you think it all meant nothing, all the longing? The longing for home? For indeed it now feels not like going, but like going back.” C. S. Lewis - Til We Have Faces

Bible verse of the day...
"For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good." Psalm 107:9

Day twenty-six... simple praises.

Today, I was given the wonderful opportunity to sit with a group of folks at the third installment of our "Get Ready" Sunday school Lenten lessons based upon the spiritual practices. I found myself sitting across the table from some amazing, thankful folks. When the prompt was given, "Share one time where you found God answered your prayers," I was amazed to see how free people felt to open up about their greatest moments. For the third week in a row, I watched as someone was reduced to tears... overjoyed.

Ms. Nordt walked us through bible verse after bible verse, giving us pictures of God, as presented in new and old testament scriptures. She presented Hebrew vocabulary, giving substance to words I had heard in hymns and in really long bible verses. I learned so much in this short class. However, it was the worship connection, what Reverend Robinson called Corporate Worship, which led me to a closer relationship with those around me and with God today.

Fathers, sisters, brothers healed. Patience in the journey. Guidance for shaky parents.

The most stunning part was that I have walked past these people for two years now, heading into church. I have worshiped with them...sang the hymns, listened to our marvelous choir and incredibly talented choir and choir director and felt closer to God through worship... Like church camp... like campfire worship close to God.

But these last few weeks, under the kind and gentle direction of our Sunday school presenters, I have felt further connected to our church family. These lessons, reminding us of our focus on spiritual growth during the Lenten season.

This was to get us talking about the importance of a "koinonia," a deep fellowship, in the spirit. A worship song which has followed along with me... in the back of my proverbial pickup truck... is Rich Mullins' song, "Sing Your Praise to the Lord." You may have heard Amy Grant sing this song. That's where I heard it first. But it was written by Rich Mullins. This recording shows the lost lyrics that were not included in Grant's version.



"From the rising of the sun
To the place where it sets
The name of the Lord is to be praised
The Lord is exalted over all the nations
His glory above the heavens
Who is like the Lord our God
The One who sits enthroned on high
He who stoops to look down upon
Down upon this earth and its sky
And that is why you gotta sing"

Simple praise. Giving your time and adoration... giving yourself.

Link of the day...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-07-22-housechurch21_ST_N.htm
a growing trend in folks finding worship within the community using "house churches"

Quote of the day...
"Worship is the human response to Divine Initiative." - Richard Foster

Bible verse of the day...
"Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Colossians 3:16.

Weekend... Here In America

As a psalmist would have written, had they seen the wonders of America.



Thanks Rich.

Find your peace this weekend... just stop and look around.

Link of the day...
http://www.nps.gov/index.htm Experience your America

Quote of the day...
"The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: 'that God governs in the affairs of men.' And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?" - Benjamin Franklin

Bible verse of the day...
"Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." Ephesians 3:21

Day twenty-three - Simplicity is elbow grease.

This selection will be the basis of the prose section for my Sunday school lesson for Lent in one and a half weeks. I'd love to hear your thought on it before I use it with the whole class. I am not one to steal the words of anyone and I give full credit where it is due. I stumbled upon this in Rich Mullins book - The World as I Remember It - Through the Eyes of a Ragamuffin.

I will not attempt to rephrase it because it says everything I need to say right now, with excatly the right words. Thank you Rich for your insight and for how you marveled at God's great, big wonerful world.

"Once in a while - just every once in a great while - you have one of those moments. They are those moments that come one at a time, with no interruptions, no competitions, no phone ringing or beeping, no kids screaming for attention, no emergencies, no jamming of the lines, no log pile of ideas...

So you fold that last piece of laundry, you nail down that last plank. You lay that last brick and wash off your trowel with your fullest attention, aware of your deepest joy. You sharpen your lawn mower blade and savor the motion and sound of the file sliding roughly and at just the right angle along the cutting edge. You toss one extra pass of your football with your kid or your dad or your friend, you fine tune your guitar, you reread that last couple of pages of your favorite book, you measure out and keep the safe space between you and the car ahead...

Not often, but every one in a while you have that perfect kind of moment when you put everything you've got into a task and find you have enough, and you feel that, even if you bungle the job, there is little at stake. You sink your teeth into something, put your heart into it, act deliberately, by choice - not by coercion of immediate necessity. You mean what you do as if there was no meaning at all in everything else - you do it for the joy of doing, not just to get it done. You shoot from the hip, swing from your shoulders, and feel that exhilarating grace and balance of having found your center, or having centered yourself.

It is for those every-once-in-a-while kind of moments - far more than for those once-upon-a-time ones - that we can be most thankful. It is in those moments that we find some sense of who we are. Regardless of how grand or how common the event of the moment is, in it we see ourselves at our absolute best - focused, poised and pure - no compromise, no ulterior motives, no self deception or pretense. We see what we are like when we have no point to prove or score, no bills to fit, no scrutinizing to endure... We meet again that child in us who stills loves to swim naked in the cold, quick-running waters of the now - the child in us who can feel in his skin and very bones the warmth and brilliance of the sun. In those moments there is that flash of astonishing recognition: this is not a child who is merely in us - this child is us.

No wonder we love the moments and want them to linger. But for now they can't, so we must let them go. They are the flicker of some holy flame, a twinkling of an eye wherein the dead come alive again. Remember them, thank the Lord for them, but move on into the next moment and be present in it. It is God's present to you. "

Copyright 1996 by Release Magazine, reproduced without permission... would love to receive it though, one day. Feel free to contact me, if needed. mailto:ChipAshley@aol.com/



Link of the day...
http://www.kidbrothers.net/release.html - read Rich's other articles from Release Magazine

Quote of the day...
"We are joined in a responsibility together make this world a good one for all of us. Each of us warms the world or chills it inasmuch as we offer or withhold respect, hospitality, encouragement, love or truth."
Rich Mullins

Bible verse of the day...
"So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?"
Ecclesiastes 3:22

Day fifteen... We're halfway there.

Looking back on fifteen days of writing daily blogs about the role of simplicity in my life has me thinking. How am I qualified to teach this lesson and how do I want to narrow all of this down to a thirty minute lesson. Members of our Christian Education Committee would say I am qualified because I was there at the meeting... because I was the one who volunteered. My parents would say because that is how I grew up, not having to have the brand name clothes...never had to have a fancy car. My children would likely say that I was qualified because I preach it the way I cook it. Simple, simple, simple.

My lovely wife Ashley takes care of the morning parental duties, getting everyone dressed, fed and off too school after I have already left in the morning. She totes them back and forth to school and then to their grandparent's houses after school. This leaves her very little time to actually go to work. So, I try to take the afternoons and some of the evenings so that she can actually get some work finished. I honestly do not know how working mothers get it all done in a day.

I do my best to get their homework done, get them fed and off to sports, choir or church. I have my particular quick and easy favorites that I can cook for them for dinner. Taco night, burger night, tuna melts, etc. But the story that will stick with them forever was the time their dad tried to make homemade soup.

It looked easy enough. I'd seen Ashley make soup from scratch often. That lady can make a fine bowl of anything. So, I gave it a shot. I added water, noodles and some mixed veggies.

What's was missing? Oh, the kids could tell you. What was missing was... flavor. No salt? No pepper? No herb mixture? Nope. Just hadn't dawned on me. Still to this day, they tell stories of the "water soup" that I made them eat. We often encourage the kids to say something nice about the dinner each night, as a courteous way to thank the person who took the time to prepare it. Ashley gets all kinds of noises, thanks and praise for her meal. That night, I just got questions.

"Dad, what is this?, What were you trying to make? Did Mom leave us anything else to eat?"

Reader, don't get upset about their manners. It was truly terrible soup.

My fantastic wife would say that I am qualified for the simple fact that I am able to wash the dishes. Just wash the dishes. She says she admires the fact that I can cut off certain creative ubstructions in my daily life and just focus on the task at hand. I have learned much from the incredible things which she accomplishes in a day. At first, she just thought I was a deep thinker, a philosopher. After nineteen years, I think she is ready to call my bluff. Stay silent long enough and people will think you are up to something. :)

Writing these thoughts down has helped me to grow and develop in a short time. It certainly has helped my weed out my thoughts to offer a precise lesson on simplicity. Presenting my ideas here has given me a bit more confidence that I can present a precise and understandable presentation of what the Gospel has to offer us regarding the spiritual discipline of simplicity.

I'm thinking a lot about the outward expressions of simplicity today, as noted in Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth.

For today, I am just pondering aloud. I certainly would not consider my life bland, in any way. Just my cooking.

I look for ways to be a part of the change I want to see in my community. I constantly seek to learn more, to find adventures in life and to reach personal growth as a husband, father, son and servant.

Simple living DOES NOT have to be like my "water soup." Flavorless, uninteresting... The more and more that I read, I find that simplicity means striving daily to make wise choices, choices which free up time for instruction, rest and growth.

Rich Mullins said on life...

“So go out and live real good and I promise you'll get beat up real bad. But, in a little while after you're dead, you'll be rotted away anyway. It's not gonna matter if you have a few scars. It will matter if you didn't live.”

Now, that's writing with flavor.

For this blog, Thirty Simple Days, I have written about the importance of organization, about reading books which feed the soul and the mind and about the importance of saying "no" sometimes. Presenting music videos and testimony from many of my heroes has made this blog more interactive and a more enjoyable experience. But more importantly, I have been challenged by the opportunity to open up my thoughts and to reach out to others with my exposed heart.

I never expected to share the things which I have shared so far, and certainly anyone who knows me knows that I don't share freely in public. I have found others, more wiser than me, who are sharing their thoughts on the subject of spiritual growth. Here is one for example, a blogger who writes "The Invitation of a Lifetime." This particular blog in the series says it all so much more eloquantly: http://shakenfree.wordpress.com/2008/06/05/the-soul-dissed-satisfied/.

However, I continue to add the salt... to seek for understanding and a better way to express myself.

One song that always comes to mind about spiritual growth is Margaret Backer's The Hunger Stays...



The Hunger Stays

"Hunger stays, hunger stays

I've been thinking about what I've been through
All the good times, all the bad
And anywhere in between the two
There runs a common thread
Some call it a condition
A hidden chasm that will never fill up
A constant thirst for Your presence
A longing for Your love

The hunger stays, I keep on reaching
The hunger stays, I keep on seeking
The hunger stays through the blessing

Through the bleeding, the hunger stays
I've seen Your rivers in my heart
Seen Your miracles time after time
And when I think I can't take anymore
I see there's so much more to find

The hunger stays, I keep on reaching
The hunger stays, I keep on seeking
The hunger stays through the blessing

Through the bleeding, the hunger stays
I will seek till I can seek no more
I won't give up until I find You Lord
'Cause a hungry man does not pick and choose
He just goes where there's bread
And he keeps pressing through

The hunger stays, I keep on reaching
The hunger stays, I keep on seeking
The hunger stays through the blessing

Through the bleeding, the hunger stays"

Link of the day...
http://www.margaretbecker.com/ Margaret Becker's web page

Quote of the day...
"Faith is not a notion, but a real strong essential hunger, an attracting or magnetic desire of Christ, which as it proceeds from a seed of the divine nature in us, so it attracts and unites with its like." William Law

Bible verse of the day...
“He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on them he has set the world.”- 1 Samuel 2:8-8

Day fourteen... What brings you here today?

My wife and I finally got that wonderful, stare into your eyes for five hours date that we have been wanting to have together. In fact, we got to spend most of the day together. Unfortunately, we spend the time together in the emergency room.

Ashley woke to a catch in her back last week and since that her back pain doubled every day until she could no longer stand straight or even consider stepping forward with her left leg. The leg had gone numb except for the burning pain running all the way down it. She went in earlier this week to a clinic and was returned home with hopes that it would clear up by week's end. When it was so much worse, with no sign of relief, we headed to the ER.

And that's where we spent our lovely date together. With nearly 75 other patients, a number of fantastic RNs and a caring PA. Thank God for PAs- Physician Assistants. We have had our fair share of encounters, as we have three active kids, but every time it was a PA who saved the day!

Star-crossed lovers, well-worn parents, we've been together now for nineteen years. Taking time to stare into your spouse's eyes, seeing them in pain and not being able to fix it, takes you to another level of trust. I knew that the PAs would find the solution, the nurses would bring careful watch and the fine folks who were joining us on our journey (all the others in dire need) would wait their turn so that Ashley would get the best possible treatment.

We're at home now and she is quietly sleeping. She made me promise that I wouldn't share anything to social media about the intriguing utterances that she made while experiencing the back pain or during her time on certain pain killers. OK, Dear. I'll keep my promise. Shoot!

However, she did say something to in a moment of lucidity. She mentioned how the Emergency Room is the great leveler. It brings all the patients down to their lowest level. The moment where we finally give in and say,
"I can't do this anymore. I can't make it better. I can't fix it."

In Richard Foster's book, Celebration of Discipline, he marks an entire chapter for the discipline of simplicity. In the chapter, Foster notes that there are inward and outward expressions of simplicity. For today, I will focus on me and what is going on inside.

Foster writes,
"Freedom from anxiety is characterized by three inner attitudes. If what we have we receive as a gift, and if what we have is to be cared for by God, and if what we have is available to others, then we will posses freedom from anxiety."

Walking into that ER, watching other folks during their worst times, sans make up and where pain has overtaken common societal rules like manners..., and us. Just two lost souls trying to figure out how my poor wife could stop having to yell out... "_____ ______________ ____ _____ ____!." Oh, yeah. I forgot. I'm not allowed to share that here. There was a gentleman who had "drunk too much cheap wine," a fragile lady who could not keep from falling down, a young child with a broken arm. In that hospital, looking back on it today, I think I was given a small glimpse at what a day must be like for God. People in need, coming for help. Save us. Fix us. Take it back to normal, God.

In his chapter on simplicity, Richard Foster writes about three three attitudes that we must work towards to gain inner simplicity.

A. "To receive what we (*have) as a gift from God."

(*our daily bread, the air we breathe, water, the sun, the look in your spouses eyes that says "I love you.")

Foster states that, "It takes only a little drought or a small accident to show us once again how utterly dependent we are for everything."

B. "God is able to protect what we posses."

Certainly, we lock our doors at night, we eat healthy and try to exercise and maintain our health, but if we are to loose that anxiety, then we must come to that point where we say, "God, I need you."

To this the author says, "Simplicity means the freedom to trust God for these (and all) things."

and then

C. "To have our goods available to others marks the third inner attitude of simplicity."

We had to wait for our turn, to share the staff. There were many times yesterday, where the Rns and PAs were interrupted mid sentence by another issue, an emergency call on the speaker or an announcement of an incoming patient. Well, we got our wish...that long, dreamy date, while we were waiting. A name it and claim it religion, Christianity is not. God must not be seen as an unlimited claw machine. I put in a quarter, wiggle the handle with a few bars and then get to pull out a cupie doll. Nah, that's not what this is.

Foster writes, "When we come to see God as the almighty Creator and our loving father, we can share because we know that he will care for us.

Jesus said to his disciples "For this reason, I say unto you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat, nor for your body, as to what you will put on."
Luke 12:22

Inward simplicity will come when we are willing to let go. I thought often of Brennan Manning and his Ragamuffins yesterday. Many of Manning's writings point to this, that only once we realize that we have nothing to give of our own, nothing to share but what God has given to us, only down-trodden, road weary ragamuffins can find peace. Life is going to throw us some crazy challenges and some interesting questions. The best we can do is to give away that worry and stress. Most everything can wait while you "seek first the kingdom of God."

Going to the ER was not giving up for Ashley. It was her step towards a simpler way of life, without the frustrations and pains that her body was feeling. Today she is resting and on her way to recovery.

Here is a song that I often think of when I come to a turn in the road and I am not certain which direction I should head next. Rich Mullins and his wonderful sense of longing to find God in everything,



Link of the day...
Physician Assistants, Thank you! http://www.aapa.org/

Quote of the day...
"I lay in the bed at the hospital and said, "Let's see what I have left. And I could see, I could speak, I could think, I could read. I simply tabulated my blessings, and that gave me a start."
Dale Evans Rogers

Bible verse of the day...
My child, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.
Proverbs 4:20-22

Day ten... Consider the lillies.

Each Saturday, I take a long run to a wonderful, hidden place called Buzzard's Roost in my hometown. I run for about three miles, run across a bridge, over a creek and through the woods to find my secret spot. Once there, I sit and rest, soaking it all in. I find this time very refreshing, a time to recharge and rebuild. Quiet, alone time doesn't happen very often when you are the father of three.

As the sun bounces off the mountains ahead of me and the light starts to warm the drops of sweat on my forehead, I often take time to offer prayers of thankfulness. This song, by a group called Gungor often comes to mind.



The song reflects the psalms and a desire to worship the Creator and offer thanks for the amazing world around us. But the song also reminds me of a favorite quote by C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis,

"Nature never taught me that there exists a God of glory and of infinite majesty. I had to learn that in other ways. But nature gave the word glory a meaning for me."

Link of the Day...
Rich Mullins offers great insight into this thought through his writing, "Considering the Lillies." I invite you to visit a website that details his work through the Kid Brothers of Saint Frank -
http://www.kidbrothers.net/release/sum91.html

Quote of the day...
“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.” Mother Teresa

Bible verse of the day...
"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Matthew 6: 28,29

Day Eight... Compassion

Two words came to my mind when I considered teaching this Lenten-based Sunday School lesson for Salem Presbyterian Church in March. A name that I remember from middle and high school, a voice and a poet who guided me through my wonky cassette player in my small, red Honda Civic.

Rich Mullins.



I never had the chance to see Rich Mullins play live and I never met him in person, although I feel that I have learned so much from his songs and his life story. I am currently rereading a devotional biography written by James Bryan Smith based on interviews with Mullins, stories about his life and excerpts from his journals. I am rediscovering his music, which turned out to be small gifts to my future self - hidden among my cd collection.

Rich Mullins: A Devotional Biography: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven starts out stating that Rich would never have allowed any hero worship or adoration be placed upon him or his life. He just simply wanted to point to the glory of God. He wanted to encourage people to be more like Christ. He often chastised people for knowing his songs by heart, yet not knowing their bible. James Bryan Smith was a friend of Rich Mullins for many years, even sharing his home with him for many years. That's how you get to know that people are human, I'd say.

Rich wrote so many tremendous songs, songs which have led me into bible study on days where I would simply not have done so. His songs showed me how wonder can be expressed through art. His songs reached deeply into the human condition, yet also pointed to the amazing evidence that points to a loving Creator. Rich's music encouraged me to find my own gifts, through story-telling or teaching. He painted pictures with his words and songs.

I remember watching a late-night tv show as a kid, called Light Music. The host Tom Green introduced me to The innocence Mission, Peter Himmelman, Mark Heard, Randy Stonehill and Rich Mullins. On this particular night the song, "The Other Side of the World," from Rich's cd Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth, tugged at my heart. It is a simple call to remember that compassion, love and understanding for others is essential to the life of a Christian. To be able to see people who are different in appearance or to spend time with people who have a different faith and custom, that was living like Christ would have lived.



Rich was an outstanding spokesman for Compassion International, an organization that encourages people to reach out to those in need. Out of sight = out of mind. Rich brought their faces to the forefront.

Searching for simplicity has certainly not been an easy commitment for me personally. I have dredged my mind through the sludge on the rocky-bottomed sea that is my heart to prepare the stories I have shared and the ones that I am trying to put into words for upcoming blogs. I have been staying up way past my bedtime, drinking too much decaf., and reading late into the night.

Just now, watching the first video and comparing Rich's visage there to the baby-faced image that you see in the music video for "The Other Side of the World" is so telling. Dropping all, following Jesus, learning to be more like him was Rich's goal. But it cost him. The search for simplicity is not as easy as dropping your burdens and cutting troubles out of your life. Rich found that seeking simplicity, trying to be more like Christ, was a tremendous challenge.

He gave most of his earnings from his work to his church. He gave away most of his earthly possessions. He left the comfort of his home and taught music on an Indian reservation which baked his skin. He took very little rest and preferred to travel by car to perform at concerts. These late nights took much of his vitality. In the end, it took his life.

Rich died September 19th, 1997, while travelling from Illinois to Kansas, when his jeep rolled over.

Rich tried to live the gospel. Over the next few days, I'd like to present some of his stories and apply them to the scriptures here on the blog. **Please note, I am not trying to present one man as the trust-all answer to life's problems. God is there for that. Trust in Him. These words that I write are just ramblings. Believe me, you can find enough people my small world that could tell you a story or two about me that would make me seem like a hypocrite. I am not perfect. Just ask my wife, my in-laws, my parents, anyone who knew me in high school, my dog and my children.

But, I'm going to keep trying.

Link for the day...
Compassion International http://www.compassion.com/

For Valentine's Day, my sweet, adorable parents (who have been reading my blogs :) Thanks, Mom and Dad!) baked me an amazing brownie cupcake. Wrapped into the cupcake package, they placed a sweet note that warmed my heart and justified for me the reasoning for posting today's blog.

Quote of the day...
"The true way to gain much is never to desire to gain too much. He is not rich that possesses much but he that covets no more; and he is not poor that enjoys little but he that wants too much." Francis Beaumont

Bible verse of the day...
"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." Romans 12:1

A Simple Plan

My wife and I represent our family on the Christian Education Committee at our church and have been doing so happily for the last year or so. We also help out with organizing children's worship. Helping out this way helps us to feel connected but also has helped me to gain insight into all that goes on within a church to keep the church going and growing.

Just a few weeks ago, during one of the CE meetings, it was announced that church members were going to be asked to help lead a particular Lenten lesson based on spiritual disciplines. Several people on the committee looked directly at me when the topic of simplicity was introduced, each of them pausing dramatically waiting for me to agree to teach this class.

Me? Simple? I'm a father of three school-aged kids (wonderful ones), a husband, a school teacher, and a co-host (along with my lovely wife) for a local family nature club. For the last four years, we have been inviting families to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. The club has been featured in magazines, newspapers (such as USA Today), the Today Show, and now in several books. The Donahues have travelled to nine different states to share our presentation about the importance of spending time together outside.

One look at our google calendar would certainly prove that our life is far from simple.

However, when the challenge was presented, I have spent a great deal of time the last few days looking for examples of simplicity in our lives and how these moments could be used to help point to the spiritual disciple of simplicity as lived through Jesus' example in the bible.

The purpose of this blog is to organize my thoughts and store away a few videos, songs, quotes and scriptures that I would like to use for the class.

You will find mistakes. I am no biblical expert. In fact, I am perfectly terrified of standing in front of an audience of adults. I tend to sweat, cough and run away when am given the opportunity. Over the 30 days of this blog, I would like to process some thoughts on why this happens and discuss a few recent events that happened in my life that led me to say yes, to volunteer to teach this class in March.