Called to the honor of his work

his work
his strength
shared effort

passion and partnership
outweigh the load

his strength carries
his passion with us

love drives work
hindrance cast aside

===
Informant

• Matthew 11:28-30

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Lamb and Brussels sprouts

This was lunch nearly every day last week and, can I say, it was amazing!  The lamb was pulled off of bone-in stew meat that I had roasted until browned and then slow-cooked overnight on low.* Succulent does not begin to describe.  Brussels sprouts were actually frozen ones I'd roasted in the oven to dry out and caramelize.  For lunch, both items were re-heated in the dastardly microwave oven, with a goodly amount of Kerrygold butter (um!!).

I will be having this again.

* The bones were returned to the water, along with a splash of white vinegar, and allowed to cook another 24 hours or so for bone stock. Also yummy.
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The Becoming for Which We Hunger

gentle trainer calls to the work
seeking weak ones' partnership
offering refreshing labor

patient teacher calls to the truth
offering students collegiality
and souls' fulfillment

===
Informant

• Matthew 11:28-30

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It Really is All About Jesus

gathered evidence: apparent
communal and individual responsibility: assured
One Deliverer: sovereign
Messiah Jesus: sovereign
extraordinary proof: exposed
extraordinary plan: shocking and glorious
extraordinary life: unstoppable

===
Informants

• Witnessing – What Do I Talk About?
• possible Sanctify foci: nexus and bonds

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Calling all the Laboring and Burdened

stop struggling for what cannot be won
true rest in me, through me

stop carrying what cannot be borne
restful work, found only in me

===
Informants

• Matthew 11:28-30

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Real Work, Real Weight, Yet Rest

his connected usefulness
easy because it's his
still, real work
but his strength

burden with purpose
carried by him with us
yet, real weight
shared

===
Informants

• Matthew 11:28-30

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Deadly Beauty

Oleander is a very deadly beauty, but it is a beauty.
Note: these are near an elementary school...um.

These were captured on my morning walk to work: evidence that a different path brings different experiences.

---Twitter - Facebook

What has companioning to do with doctoral studies?

all of me to you
all of us shared
learning journey

seeing perspective
sharing perspective
community

reframed gifting
building portable community
sharing through life's years

===
Informants

• objectives for the doctoral program
• course objectives for "Friendship and Community: Contexts for Growth"

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Traversing the Mess of Life Together

life's stuff repeats
we're better together
step-by-step across years

happy, sad
hands join
moment becomes moment

happenings happen
choice decides the case
respond or bury

===
Informants

• our spiritual journey as iterative, fluctuating, and beyond our direct control
• our spiritual journey is messy, but we traverse with one another

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He is the Soul's True Rest

soul
blinded by assumptions
One is Truth

here, in him
struggle falls aside
useless

heart
weighed with seeking
One is calling

soul's rest
is here

===
Informant

• Matthew 11:28-30

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Huge is Better Bird-by-Bird

distraction hinders
weekends recover
daily is better

indulgence numbs
overdone
whole is better

stress leaks
overflowing
real is better

planned bits
woven
bird-by-bird is better

===
Informants

• managing stress with sleep, food, tears, and Lamott
• managing time by planning, cramming, or integrating

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Learning to Live Freely and Lightly

forming ways of being
unbounded by dead assumptions
unrestrained by old weights

syncing his life, my life
limits transform into possibilities
freedom turns rightside up

===
Informants

• Matthew 11:28-30 msg

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Happy Day! My Th.M. Thesis Made a Bit of Money

I came home tonight to a whopping $21 check from lulu.com, where my Master of Theology thesis (An Articulation and Evaluation of an Emerging Church Ecclesiology) is available for purchase.

If you are interested in ecclesiological evaluation or the Emerging Church, feel free to go over a buy a copy.  I won't mind.  :-)

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From Data to Wisdom to Truth

teasing out complex relations
passing through well-lived eyes
possibility approaches actuality

uncovering the big picture
wisdom gathered and earned weighs
and finally begins to see

===
Informants

• path analysis and factor analysis
• data, wisdom, truth

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Christians Aren't on Earth to Look Pretty or Point Fingers

a neighborly chat
for a drawn gathering
through ordinary stuff

divine partnership frees

voices raise glory
some ears counter

Jesus' people follow
speaking his words

===
Informants

• Teaming up with God to be a Witness
• Team, testify
  

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On this Journey Together, Alone

seeing fore and aft
waiting, moving

exploring fuzzy edges
pausing now to ponder
revisiting, then clarify
bit upon bit

reality too profound
soul stretched until...

===
Informants

• Christian journey as sequential, overlapping, cyclical, and mysterious
• Christian journey as recognizable movements and restings

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God with Us, In Us

masterful power
guides a moment's forgotten remembering

sufficient for everything
weakness becomes a channel

my soul flows
insufficiency sufficient

the ordinary testifies
following becomes being

===

Informants

• Becoming A Great Witness
• Mother's Day
  

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Living Lightly the Unforced Rhythms

this apprenticeship carries well
custom fit for real persons

like well-formed dancers flying light
in unhindered exuberance
inclinations
given and practiced

live hearts' true desire

===
Informants

• Matthew 11:28-30

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The Ultimate Apprenticeship

side-by-side
journeying
studying his goodness

seeing what he sees
going where he goes

shoulder-to-shoulder
watching him work

doing what he does
making what he makes

===
Informants

• Matthew 11:28-30

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The Burden is Light, So Rest

rest awaits
come away and be restored

fullness is there
so go where he is:
full life IS him

be replenished
be apart
be alive

===
Informants

• Matthew 11:28-30

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Taking Chances, Reducing Risk

chance happens
often hiding in significance

one errant recognition
do we take the risk?

seeing something here
not ours but theirs

conservatism has its place

===
Informants

• risk of false significance (Type I error) and influencing inputs (covariance)
• improved results and decisions

--- Twitter - Facebook

Room for Confrontation with God

this human-divine friendship
spacious and free
where once terror
now the courage of shared hearts

not comprehending
my heart pours its pain
and he listens

===
Informants

• Wasting Time with God
• "room for confrontation with God" (209)

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If You Look, You Will See: Installment One

Sometimes the big picture is not very impressive...

but a closer look is extraordinary.

What have you seen lately?

---Twitter - Facebook

A Shift in Confidence

too much effort running in circles
my power fails
he remains

relaxing into him
I struggle for control
I slip through my fingers into his

===
Informants

• Wasting Time with God
• "a shift in confidence" (103)

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Found Flowers: Ain't God grand!?!

I found these on my walk Saturday. Ain't God grand?!

---Twitter - Facebook

MBTI: Revisiting Personality Type

Intrigued by a chapter in Seeking God Together: An Introduction to Group Spiritual Direction, I decided to revisit the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.  I took three different tests and received three different results.  All three tests indicated I am an Introverted and Intuitive type: no surprise there.  Two out of three indicated I am a Judging and Thinking type.  I guess I'm just complex.

One thing stood out in all three: I have a tough time with false dichotomies.

Anyhow, here are the results.

Humanmetrics

Your Type is INTJ

• Introverted 89% 
• Intuitive 38% 
• Thinking 25% 
• Judging 33%

Personality Test Center

Your personality type is INFJ

INFJ: "Author". Strong drive and enjoyment to help others. Complex personality. 1% of the total population. These are serious students and workers who really want to contribute. They are private and easily hurt. They make good spouses, but tend to be physically reserved. People often think they are psychic. They make good therapists, general practitioners, ministers, and so on.

Similar Minds

INTP - "Architect". Greatest precision in thought and language. Can readily discern contradictions and inconsistencies. The world exists primarily to be understood. 3.3% of total population.

Free Jung Word Choice Test (similar to MBTI)
personality tests by similarminds.com

What is your type?

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Living in a God-Bathed World

can I choose rest in the rat race?
do I trust him enough to see his hand?

his touch imbues every part
yet eyes fail

===
Informants

• Wasting Time with God
• "living in a God-bathed World" (102)

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Yearning for Another Realm

hungry for restfulness
connection deeper than deep

a place beyond
felt and hidden
yearning embedded in the soul's DNA

where Truth fills and rules
home

===
Informants

• Wasting Time with God
• "yearning for another realm" (95)

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Intertwining Mystery in Concreteness

startled by mystery
hidden in the ordinary

struggle released
flexing trust again

for this moment
rest

understanding comes step-by-step

self-reliance celebrates burden
trust celebrates God

===
Informants

• recognition and rest in the midst is a training task
• mystery and concreteness

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Sweet Steak Marinade with Fresh Goat Cheese

Fresh Goat Cheese

1 qt Goat milk
2 T Vinegar (apple cider vinegar is best)

How

1. Heat goat milk to 110 F.
2. Stir in vinegar.
3. Allow the mixture to rest until the milk solids separate from the whey
4. Strain through cheese cloth (overnight in the frig is best).
5. Retain the whey for soups (or drink it...yum!).
6. Enjoy.

Sweet Steak

• grass-fed steak, 12 oz
• 1/2 c Grade B Maple Syrup
• 1 t Hickory Seasoning Liquid Smoke
• 1 T Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 T Kerrygold unsalted butter

How

1. Cut steak in serving portions (~3 oz)
2. Combine syrup, liquid smoke, and Worcestershire sauce and place in ziptop bag
3. Put steak pieces in the marinade and let sit for at least an hour
4. If you placed the steak in the frig, allow it to come to room temperature.
5. Heat a cast iron pan over medium heat (seriously, medium, no hotter).
6. Melt the butter in the pan; it should not smoke (or if so, only a very little).
7. Place the steak pieces in the pan and cook each side for 2 minutes (for rare).
8. DO NOT TOUCH THE STEAK UNTIL THE 2 MINUTES HAVE PASSED.
9. DO NOT SQUISH THE STEAK!!
10. Remove the beautiful steaks from the pan and let them rest for a minute or so.
11.  Plate with fresh goat cheese, pan drippings, and enjoyment.

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Prayer is asking the right questions

focus matters
curiosity follows treasure
heart redirected, exposed, being made flesh

curiosity now drawn from there to here
where Truth, in flesh, reigns and cares

===
Informants

• Sunday chapel at 1000 Pines 2010 Women's Retreat

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Confidence, Incapable of Being Vanquished

tired here, so wait
relax and follow

what is written stands
know it

ink and flesh divine
knowing him

not an echo, but alive
here

===
Informants

• sermon points and title, Invincible Faith

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