Living in Sacred Space

A missionary society in London wrote to Dr. David Livingstone and asked, "Have you found a good road to where you are? If so, we want to know how to send (men) to join you." Livingstone wrote back, "If you have (men) who will come only if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I want (men) who will come if there is no road at all." This short conversation from the historical record of the great missionary Dr. David Livingstone hits me right between my "disciple" eyes. I must confess that I am part of that generation of boomers who has had a propensity to consume rather than contribute--take rather than give. In fact,  author Marva Dawn in her book entitled, " Reaching Out without Dumbing Down" says it well: "The boomers search for a church to meet their needs instead of commitment to the church through which to serve."   There is another phrase that has capture my attention recently.  You have heard John Wesley's q...

The weather was beautiful in the Puyallup Valley on Satuday, August 1, 2015, and "the mountain" was out: Mt. Rainier.  So my friends from Texas and I loaded up in the car and began the trek up the highway to "Paradise."  Locals can easily tell this "green horn" what he did wrong.  You don't go to Mt. Rainier National Park on Saturday in the middle of the summer when the mountain is "out".  The traffic was crazy, and, unfortunately, "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot." In otherwords, "there wasn't any place to park in order to get to 'Paradise.'"   As we traveled down the mountain I was reminded that "Paradise" really isn't a destination, but instead it is about life-giving and life-affirming relationships--it can be journey with people you love. You see, I might not have gotten to park at"Paradise" in the National Park, but I spent four hours with friends driving in my car...