Excuses Unhinged?

too much comfort here
fearing his change

life wrapped in ruts
commanded beyond the bounds

called to leave comfortable acquaintance
dangerous road with new companions

===
Informants

• Saturday chapel at 1000 Pines 2010 Women's Retreat

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The Honor and Freedom of Understanding

proper means
fitting to curiosity
properly wondered

staying in wisdom's bounds
while dancing its center
freely

accuracy shows honor
creativity shows respect
uncovering the real

===
Informants

• data analysis, inference, and target population
• type of data, nature of the question, and understanding the constructs

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Moving Trust from Casual to Deep

stuck in "whatever"
until self-importance dies

brokenness barely patched
handed over once-for-all

dirt swept under
now fully cleansed

following on my schedule
until seeking his

===
Informants

• Saturday chapel at 1000 Pines 2010 Women's Retreat

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This Alien Righteousness

we are sojourners
traveling with siblings
sharing identity

we are his people
living as community
sharing character

he is our life
reigning, indwelling
Master, Friend

===
Informants

• "this alien righteousness" Life Together
• Life Together, by Bonhoeffer

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Growth Happens when the Seed Dies

feeble steps
taken one by one
even a look reframes the heart

mere moments chosen
run moment to moment
opening a crack
his perspective saturates

===
Informant

• Friday chapel at 1000 Pines 2010 Women's Retreat

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Signs of Spring 2010

The Cherry Tree is Full of Blooms!

The Manzanita is Full of Buds!

I would have had pictures of the tulips, but alas, spring had not quite reached them.

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Learning to Notice Together

much silence
the gentle uncovering
bearing souls toward him

ears, heart
probing, waiting
all-with-all, journeying
learning, leaning

practiced quiet
expectant
Spirit here
discerning the path

===
Informant

• Seeking God Together: An Introduction to Group Spiritual Direction by Alice Fryling

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Teaching From Page to Flesh

selecting the essentials
discovering the framework
that sets the pieces
in involved flesh

valuing the intricacy
theme and variation
tracing truth's resemblance
life leaks  assumptions

===
Informants

• teaching complex ideas with rich content
• teaching through selection, distillation, connection, and engagement
  

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Is absolute certainty arrogance (unless you're God)?

keeping in mind what I know
and don't know
interactions
and missing insights
and hidden inferences

humility and certainty hand in hand
search for truth

===
Informants

• conclusions based on data and fair analysis
• conclusions keeping in mind amount of error and complexity of relations

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What if we're Becoming Together?

figuring out our essence
learning him and us
becoming in him

side-by-side, his work his way
so it has always been
from first-word to last

===
Informants

• communal interaction as dialogue and partnership
• ecclesiology as know-be-expand, my people...your God, and image bearers of the Trinity

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What if Learning was Deep Sharing?

shared ideas and perspectives
with common purpose
to serve the ultimate purpose

shared rights and responsibilities
with common master
notions and connections revealing the Creator

===
Informants

• interdisciplinary integration as subject, connection, and submission
• communal interaction as dialogue and partnership

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What if the Church was One?

imbibing God's self-reflection
we are his
it shows

reflecting him in ordinary life
his truth
in love

immersed and taught
we follow
as we gather

===
Informants

• systems science as stocks, flows, and feedbacks
• ecclesiology as know-be-expand, my people...your God, and image bearers of the Trinity

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What if all Learning has a Deeper Purpose?

content
general revelation of One
aligned with truth

action and decision
shaping this one creation
partnering with our Creator

evaluation
toward true image-bearing
seeking Him

===
Informants

• systems science as stocks, flows, and feedbacks
• interdisciplinary integration as subject, connection, and submission

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While heart and head gather to chat...

life is voiced
emotion open and clarified
life listens to wisdom's truth
learns to walk

perspective speaks
mutually transforming
belief clarified
heart inches toward head

===
Informants

• theological reflection: experience + tradition
• theological reflection--> dialogue, inspection, transformation, and action

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What if the Church was Healthy?

the gathering...

loved
family of the Father

understood
one Body in the Son

connected
a people of the Spirit

together
true humanity reflecting the Trinity


===
Informants

• holistic health as affective, intellectual, spiritual, and physical
• ecclesiology as know-be-expand, my people...your God, and image bearers of the Trinity

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His Work--His Goodness

goodness overflows life
given
to trusters

becoming life-sharers
his goodness, his live shared
reliance demanded

truth translated life-by-life
living his great goodness
in my language

===
Informants

• sermon notes: Acts--What Jesus Continues to Do: Introduction
• devotion and plenary from ETS Farwest 2010

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How to Decide this Particular Case

each situation requires
its own assurances
these people in
this particular place

more need for assurance brings
more possible error
weigh each on its merits

===
Informants

• uniqueness and specificity in Action Research
• confidence and error tolerance in Linear Regression

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What if it's All Connected?

emotions and values
power
directed by

intellectual skills
discover
purposed toward

love and holiness
move
aligned with

strength and agility
translate
transformed unto

the Creator

===
Informants

• holistic health as affective, intellectual, spiritual, and physical
• interdisciplinary integration as subject, connection, and submission

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Interpreting Basic Statistics (Micro Review)

Claim: Exercises are provided on the assumption that reading and interpreting excerpts from actual research reports better prepares students as statistical researchers.

Practical, thorough, interesting.

Interpreting Basic Statistics Fifth Edition

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What if Life was Together and Whole?

souls opened
passions and peeves interact

ideas play mind-to-mind
reaching for actuality

laying out trusted ultimates
striving for truth

persons in responsive motion
dancing life

===
Informants

• holistic health as affective, intellectual, spiritual, and physical
• communal interaction as dialogue and partnership

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What if it was perfect?

 developed values
into
good choices:
authenticity

accessible knowledge
into
practical wisdom:
expertise

lived love
into
honest care:
mutuality

integrated strength
into
responsive capacity:
functionality

if

===
Informants

• holistic health as affective, intellectual, spiritual, and physical
• systems science as stocks, flows, and feedbacks

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Your Journey is Yours Together

focused yet responsive
listening for the Spirit in the soul
echoing the voice

unmeasurable influence and response
waiting patiently for wisdom
seeking God wherever found

===
Informants

• spiritual accompaniment as flexible, trusting, and open art
• spiritual accompaniment as specialized and complex

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Two Critters I Meet Quite Often

The trek to campus has much ivy, which is much loved by snails.

Let's just call this one Barker. Urg!

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The Sub-Culture of Public Transit

accessible
like a cheap, crowded limo
not quite luxury, but functional

shared
traveling where who-knows-who has sat
stories embedded in seats, poles, and pull cords

===
Informants

• public as accessible and shared
• transit as conveyance here to there

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Writing Poetry with a Tangent Matrix

A while ago, I started using the tangent matrix concept to write the poems for this blog.  I am finding the practice creatively effective (in a monkeybar sort of way), so I thought I'd pass along the process.

Below is the tangent matrix for Disciple-Making as Love.  The column labels were determined in advance of hearing the sermon and resulted from a devotional lectio on chapter 15 (Loving Yourself) in Practicing the Presence of People by Mason.  The row labels are sparse notes from a sermon preached by Paul R. Gupta at Torrance First Baptist on Sunday, April 11.

Using my Moleskine, I wrote the sparse notes in the row header and forced ideas into the cells as the sermon was being preached.  Since I limit most of my posts to 25 words, I counted the words in each row (this time, not counting the row title) as I went along.  Here is the matrix.

. self-love other-love God-love . 3rd world movement equipped active centered . god works in our faithfulness standing walking moved . remain connected he loves me, he likes me through me his love . remain in the Word feeding my soul overflowing his message . remain in his love staying open giving receiving

Under each matrixed poem, I list the Informants (row and column headings) used to create the poem.  

See the finished product: Disciple-Making as Love.

What tools do you use to write?

 

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Spring Flowers in the Rain

Captured a few blooms on my walk to campus this morning. Enjoy.

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More than a Mere Day

origin
far past biology
to soul training
in the Name of the One

commencement
a will apart
shaped by years
yearning for life well lived

===
Informants

• birthday as origin and commencement
• decoration as adorning, embellishing, and honoring

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Disciple-Making as Love

equipped
active
centered

standing
walking
moved

he loves me, likes me
through me
his love

feeding my soul
overflowing
his message

staying open
giving
receiving

===
Informants

• self-love, other-love, God-love
• Gupta on John 15: remain in Christ, remain in the Word, remain in his love

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Faith Looks Arrogant

trusting God not perception
may look like divine elitism

living and telling truth you know is true
may look like intellectual elitism

but they're not

===
Informants

• lived trust and correct knowledge
• perception of superiority and excessive claims

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The Critical Journey (Micro Review)

Claim: Understanding one's locations, faith journey, and locations of others provides guidance for getting out of cages and transitioning stage to stage.

Informative, practical, doable.

Disclosure: If you purchase an item through the affiliate link, I receive a percentage of amazon's profit.
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Nearly a Half Century Since Mom Bore Me, I Travel On

writing
space for creative productivity
choice made

friends
sharing life over primal repast
relations prized

reactions
by chance or plan externals irritate
far to go

Informants

• breakfast, lunch, and a fed-ex door tag
• time and maturity

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What do you do when reality has too much variation?

sometimes reality throws a curve-ball
standard analyses come up short
alternatives speak more carefully

either way
speak truth:

fix the tool
or
change the world


Informants

• Stats: exceptions in expected results
• Stats: alternative analysis and explanatory discussion

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Jesus is Alive and it Matters!

reality matches words spoken
amazing courage
or
utter rejection

accuracy kept
the story lives through time

frightened followers
now brave
centuries of lives risk

Evidence!


Informant

• Jesus is Alive Again--A Really Big Deal

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Kohlrabi and Caramelized Onion

• Kohlrabi, 6 each, cubed
• water to cover kohlrabi
• salt to taste
• yellow onion, 1 each, cut in strips
• black peppercorns, whole, ~1T
• coconut oil
• butter to taste

How

1. Place kohlrabi in saucepan, cover with clean water. Add salt and boil until tender.
2. Meanwhile, melt coconut oil in fry pan over medium-low heat.  Add onion strips and saute until slightly brown.
3. Add peppercorns to onion pan and continue to saute until onions are well caramelized.
4. Drain kohlrabi, reserving liquid for soup.
5. Combine boiled kohlrabi and caramelized onion.
6. Top with butter to enjoy whole or mash and mix with butter.

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When the Church Was a Family (Micro Review)

Claim: Modeling life after "the strong-group, surrogate family relations of early Christianity" is the only and best way to be Jesus-followers.

Powerful, researched, ecclesiology must-read.

Disclosure: If you purchase an item through the affiliate link, I receive a percentage of amazon's profit.
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