(I’m happy to introduce my youngest daughter, Holly Dahlstrom, to you. Her joy, courage, and love of people inspire me. Her capacity to hear God’s voice and follow is a reminder to us all that “a better story” awaits, if we’ll but listen for the voice of our Maker and follow. You can follow all [...]
Archive for the ‘Rule of Life’ Category
31 May
Don’t find your passion—find your lover
Graduation is in the air, and David Brooks’ excellent article about the wrong-headed speeches he’s heard this graduation season is a great jumping-off point for a very important conversation. Brooks makes the important observation that today’s generation is entering a world of unemployment and an unprecedented convergence of challenges on several fronts. But, as Brooks [...]
26 May
The rest of the story—and a way to share it
Yes. Of course. Westboro Baptist church is planning a protest for President Obama’s visit to Joplin, Mo., to inflict a little hate and misery, in Jesus’ name. That the rapture didn’t happen this past Saturday was in the news as much as if it had happened. And people are still debating whether Rob Bell is [...]
2 May
Hope has primary colors…
…and those colors aren’t personal peace and prosperity (“give me my stuff and leave me alone”), individualism, and “heaven when I die.” Or perhaps I should say, those aren’t God’s primary colors. I love how God has taken all the complexity of religion, and boiled it down to the essence, down to three imperatives, three [...]
21 Mar
Crazy Confidence in a Shaky World
It’s available for all of us. It’s not contingent (thank God) on circumstances. It’s able to move us, faster than a glacier, but slower than jet, towards a quietness and confidence that enables us to be people of hope. Every. Single. Day. I’m talking about the new covenant, which is the topic of our present [...]
13 Jan
Climbing Kilimanjaro step by step – Lessons for America from Africa
In about 11 hours our team from Seattle will board a flight that will take us (eventually, by the 5th airport) to Seattle, and we’ll be home, our exploratory trip of this region completed. We came here in order to meet some people who are doing marvelous development work and to visit the sites of [...]
28 Dec
First Resolution: five options for five minutes of prayer
Life, it seems, is coming at us faster than ever. Longer hours at work, more stress, commutes, repairs, exercise, relationships, and endless social connections that encourage us to remain linked in, with updated status reports and timeless tweets – add it all up and life can feel like a video game. It’s coming at you [...]
24 Dec
Good News…Great Joy…All People
Over the past two years, the church I pastor in Seattle has invested well over 300 thousand dollars in providing clean water for villages in Africa. We do this through the excellent work of “Living Water International” because they don’t just provide water, they provide it “in Jesus name.” I hope you’ll pause now and [...]
22 Dec
Christmas Vacation: filling hospitality with joy instead of tension
Looking for a better way of being together than “Christmas Vacation”? read on: “Dwelling” is a great word. It can mean the space in which we occupy our lives: “My dwelling was built in 1928, and leans a little bit downhill” (true statement). Or, it can mean something we do: “we’ll all be dwelling together [...]
9 Dec
What to do with your extra Tunics
Blogging has allowed me to meet people from all over the world, and I’m happy to introduce one of them to you in todays guest post. Joshua Becker is a blogger who is deeply involved in his church on the east coast, and writes a marvelous blog called, “Becoming Minimalist”, filled with challenging and encouraging [...]
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