tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77212703628733344952024-03-12T16:28:03.351-07:00DEREK MAULA Life ExaminedDerek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.comBlogger1230125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-53808619248384766852013-08-19T08:15:00.001-07:002013-08-19T08:16:29.120-07:00Click link to redirect to Derek's blog<span class="Apple-style-span" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img class="thumbnail" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijStUP-kkflOkni6fbBqoRu7ts1lcvfaDxDkbNRdWc3KErzPrfDTLUrCJOGsXLj5Su9YVcGUwt5NiOuQF18-jzCk02s1dda3LDVUbnPNAm_dprSPo0pO9j4L7sh41L3QFYm1qyvcswKBI/s320/DSC_0241.JPG" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; display: inline-block; vertical-align: top;" width="320" /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
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Hi, folk.<br />
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For the past year I've been re-posting my <a href="http://derekmaul.wordpress.com/">derekmaul.wordpress.com</a> blog here. But it's time to stop. So, if you're looking to read my current writing, please click on the link below. I post pretty-much every day, so it's worth the time to click.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><i><b>Peace - DEREK</b></i><br /><br />Re-direct to <a href="http://derekmaul.wordpress.com/" style="-webkit-transition-delay: initial; -webkit-transition-duration: 0.3s; -webkit-transition-property: color; -webkit-transition-timing-function: initial; color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">THE LIFE-CHARGED LIFE</a></span>Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-14778087973543263332013-07-01T18:45:00.001-07:002013-07-01T18:45:01.209-07:00baptism<div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_10707" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: #222222; float: left; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 10px; padding: 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; width: 310px;">
<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/photo2.jpg" style="color: #cc0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img alt="image by Steve Parker" class="size-medium wp-image-10707" height="219" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/photo2.jpg?w=300&h=219" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 2px;" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">
image by Steve Parker</div>
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This week, I’ll be posting sporadically, as Rebekah and I are going to be crunching out the miles between here and Michigan. We’ll be rocking the RAV4 with our favorite road tunes (<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Queen, Sting, Robert Palmer, The Beatles</em> et al), and looking forward to some quality family time around “The EPIC Wedding of the Year!”</div>
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In the back of our minds, though, doing its usual job of both quieting our souls and inspiring our day-to-day living, will be yesterday’s worship experience here at FPCBrandon. I’m not sure when the office staff will post the link on the church website, but do yourself a favor and listen in to Sunday’s message on <a href="http://www.fpcbrandon.org/sermons/2013-sermon-podcasts/" style="color: #004477; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“Worship.”</a></div>
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If you weren’t at the 11:00 service then you’ll just have to imagine what was going on during the loud roars of laughter you’ll hear a few minutes in to Rebekah’s message. A large spider chose the best possible moment to rappel all the way from the vaulted ceiling to the pulpit, its dangling appearance dovetailing with the message to perfection!</div>
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image by Derek Maul</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">BAPTISM:</strong> But it’s these pictures, taken during the baptism of the newest Okwen child, that tell the story best for me. This is what it all comes down to, that tender moment when we present ourselves, and our families, at God’s feet; claiming our status as God’s children, owning our need for redemption, and promising to live into the promise of new life in Jesus.</div>
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Rebekah took <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ambang Yirinwei Okwen</em> in her arms, blessed her, and baptized her in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. “Her name,” Roland and Beryl Okwen said, “means ‘Praise God!’”</div>
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Moments like this always remind me of the following scripture, from the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel, when Zachariah welcomed his new child into the world:</div>
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because of the tender mercy of our God,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><sup style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </sup>to shine on those living in darkness<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />and in the shadow of death,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />to guide our feet into the path of peace</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3435.jpg" style="color: #004477; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img alt="image by Derek Maul" class=" wp-image-10708 " height="179" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3435.jpg?w=240&h=179" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 2px;" width="240" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">
image by Derek Maul</div>
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This imperative to shine the light of Jesus on those living in darkness, and to guide the feet of God’s children into the path of peace, turns out to be the exact mission of the church,</div>
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One of the ways we do this is through baptism, when we celebrate new life by affirming the new covenant God has made with his children. Ambang was welcomed into this family of faith, her parents recommitted themselves to raising her in the knowledge of the love of God, and the congregation pledged to be an active part of the process.</div>
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And the entire church smiled. And God is smiling too. <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">- DEREK</em></strong></div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-23152111704949481622013-06-30T04:05:00.001-07:002013-06-30T04:05:03.801-07:00why I'm going to church today<br />
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For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)</div>
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I have to admit, it can be a constant struggle to stay grounded when you’re in the process of turning your life upside down!</div>
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This weekend we’ve been working on packing up the books from Rebekah’s office; we also finished off the “punch-list” of house repairs, and are attempting to get all our ducks in a row for the trip to Michigan for Andrew and Alicia’s wedding celebration.</div>
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What kind of blindsided both of us was the sharp stab of grief, even in the midst of all the anticipation and excitement (not to mention the sharp stabs of pain in my back, from moving over 30 boxes of books!). I guess we’re going to be experiencing a lot of this kind of dissonance over the next few weeks.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">GROUNDED:</strong> So back to the idea of staying grounded. The grounding I’m talking about is really the heart of the central mission that has always guided our life together. It’s the sense of purpose that first took Rebekah and I to Columbia Seminary in Atlanta in 1980, that steered us to Pensacola in 1982, that moved us to Brandon in 1996, and that is now leading us to Wake Forest, North Carolina. It’s the message that Jesus is the answer to life’s most essential questions, that the most important decision any of us can ever make is to follow him, and that Rebekah and I – as a family – have been called to serve as guideposts along the way.</div>
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You will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life (Philippians 2).</div>
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So I am especially glad that today is another Sunday, because the context of worship never fails to anchor me back into the heart of what really matters, and guides us from day to day.</div>
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Rebekah’s office now…</div>
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I’m going to stand on the stage, at the back of our most excellent praise orchestra, and play my heart out on the guitar while we sing contemporary worship songs; I’m going to let the music wash over me, the word of God nurture me, and the message uplift me; I’m going to rest in the knowledge that God loves me; I’m going to revel in the presence of God; I’m going to settle, comfortably, in the cumulative reassurance of the living witness of the community of faith known as First Presbyterian Church of Brandon; I’m going to breathe in the resurrection power of the Spirit of God; and I’m going to be grounded in the heart of the very reason God has called us to move away.</div>
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So I will still be a little sad; we both will. But we will also – because of this amazing church – be more thoroughly equipped for the next leg of the journey, living like we mean it, all for Jesus.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">- DEREK</em></strong></div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-2291590162111995112013-06-27T14:20:00.002-07:002013-06-27T14:20:30.018-07:00DOMA<blockquote style="background-color: white; background-image: url(http://s2.wp.com/wp-content/themes/pub/journalist/images/quote.gif); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #222222; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; min-height: 50px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 60px;">
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<em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">God’s Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways. (Galatians 5:22-23)</em></div>
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<em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The real enemy of marriage is our pervasive failure to engage/practice/value/honor our primary relationships from the context of faith, and of placing God at the epicenter of our lives.</em></div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/bg_woodstock2-810-7390.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img alt="bg_woodstock2-810-7390" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-10676" height="150" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/bg_woodstock2-810-7390.jpg?w=150&h=150" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 133, 181); float: right; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 5px; padding: 2px;" width="150" /></a><a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/let-b-s.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img alt="LET-B-S" class="alignleft wp-image-10678" height="81" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/let-b-s.jpg?w=72&h=81" style="border: 0px; float: left; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 2px;" width="72" /></a>ack in the 60′s and the 70′s, the so-called “Free Love” movement, and the “Sexual Revolution” were often discussed as a way of freeing human sexuality from prudish and restrictive mores that built a puritanical wall around the subject. The mantra was, essentially, “Too many rules are unhealthy, so ‘<em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">anything goes</em>‘ must necessarily lead to freedom, and better relationships, and peace, and happiness.”</div>
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History, of course, tells us that “Free Love” didn’t exactly deliver as advertised! History also tells us that this is not a new conversation. Listen to the following words from C.S. Lewis, written in the early 1940′s:</div>
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<em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">They tell you sex has become a mess because it was hushed up. But for the last 20 years it has not been hushed up. It has been chattered about all day long. Yet it is still in a mess. If hushing up had been the cause of the trouble, ventilation would have set it straight… (</em>Mere Christianity<em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">)</em></div>
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I love the phrase, “ventilation would have set it straight.” Well, by the year 2013, the subject has been well and truly ventilated, along with visual aids to sear every conceivable image into our consciousness. Yet the evidence suggests that the world of human sexuality is as dysfunctional today as it ever was, if not much, much more.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">BACKLASH:</strong> Some have reacted with a backlash against anyone, or any practice, outside their own, narrowly defined, norms. However, rather than help, such responses serve to exacerbate polarization and come across as defensive rather than productive. Too many churches, for example, consistently and loudly trumpet <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">what they are against</em> with more conviction than sharing the good news about <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">what they are for</em>.</div>
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Enter the Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA, 1996), the law barring the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legalized by states. To me it has stood as another classic example of backlash, of trying to blame what’s wrong with sexuality in America by pointing away from ourselves (and the sickness of the majority), and by shifting the focus of attention anywhere other than the root problems that compromise all relationships.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">MARRIAGE IS UNDER ATTACK!</strong> Yes, marriage in America is under attack, that’s for sure; but it’s not gay marriage that’s the problem, and it’s not an open conversation about sex. The real enemy of marriage is our pervasive failure to engage/practice/value/honor our primary relationships from the context of faith, and of placing God at the epicenter of our lives.</div>
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The malfunction resides in our failure to love one-another with a mutually self-sacrificial love. Marriage in America is under attack inasmuch as men and women (many of whom fly the flag of “Christian”) relate to one-another absent the principles outlined in Galatians 5:22-23: “God’s Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways.”</div>
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So you say you want marriages to be strong, and you want sexuality in America to experience healing? Then start in your own home, renew your commitment to represent the self-giving love of God in every relationship, and tell the truth about the Gospel of Love, simply and eloquently via the way that you live.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">- DEREK</em></strong></div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-63598071570985100032013-06-25T10:49:00.001-07:002013-06-25T10:53:22.884-07:00consider the lilies...<br />
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/dsc_00011.jpg" style="clear: right; color: #004477; float: right; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="early this morning" class=" wp-image-10642 " height="265" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/dsc_00011.jpg?w=462&h=308" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 2px; border-width: initial; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="400" /></a><br />
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early this morning</div>
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<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (NIV)</em></div>
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<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have! </em><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">(The Message) – Matthew 6:19-23</em></div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">CHILDREN & FLOWERS:</strong> What do children and flowers have in common? I’m not exactly sure, at this precise moment, but that’s the phrase that has come to mind as I sit down to write today’s morning post.</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/dsc_0024.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="DSC_0024" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-10645" height="200" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/dsc_0024.jpg?w=300&h=200" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: left; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="300" /></a>I just came inside from shooting a few photographs of this morning’s crop of rain lilies. I saved the images on my hard drive, then checked out the latest pictures of our grandchildren on Naomi’s facebook page. That’s when the question came to mind: “What do children and flowers have in common?”</div>
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There’s a freshness and a “new every morning” quality to flowers – and especially the rain lilies – that always speaks directly into my soul. Yesterday, most of them were nothing but stems. Then, in the evening, we had a nice gentle rain. So this morning, there they are, all perky and all “so pleased to see you,” and just bursting with praise.</div>
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proud daddy with his babies</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">REBEKAH MAE:</strong> Today, Rebekah Mae is exactly one week old. She passed yesterday’s check-up with flying colors. “She’s perfect,” was about as clinical as the pediatrician’s office could get with their assessment.</div>
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Rebekah Mae is a rain lily of sorts, suddenly blooming and just about bursting with thanksgiving and praise. A new baby like Rebekah doesn’t give me much intellectual ammunition for a debate about the reality of the love of God; instead, she simply shines as a grateful testimony to life and light; she is a prayer; she is an evidence of grace; she is a vibrant offering of light and life and praise.</div>
<ul style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">She shines as a grateful testimony to light and life</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">She is a prayer</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">She is an evidence of grace</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">She is a vibrant offering of light and life and praise</li>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/8591_972504860802_1866354779_n.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="laughing uproariously" class=" wp-image-10650 " height="240" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/8591_972504860802_1866354779_n.jpg?w=240&h=240" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 2px; border-width: initial; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="240" /></a><br />
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laughing uproariously</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">DAVID:</strong> David – all of 20-months, all joy and tears and laughter and fun, all “experience the moment” – is fascinated by his new sister. He likes to sit in front of Rebekah’s swing and poke her foot every time she comes forward, laughing outrageously and uproariously at the game. He pats her, he watches intently, and he gets down as close as possible to look into her little face and to see the world from the new baby’s point of view.</div>
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David is still very much a baby. He is fresh and vibrant and literally bursting with light and life. He shines. He experiences. He opens up each day like a rain lily turning its delicate face to the early morning light. His wide open spirit is at once an invitation and an offering of praise.</div>
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We, my friends and readers, are no less witnesses to the imperative of light and life. The day lily; the infant; the toddler; the 57-year-old writer; the ________ (you fill in your own information). We all confront the choice to engage this and every day with either cynicism or with joy.</div>
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I honestly don’t believe we are required to reserve judgement each day until we see how things go. I believe we can decide now, and then choose to live – to bloom – into what becomes possible once we acknowledge what the lily, the baby, and the toddler already seem to know.</div>
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<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">- DEREK</strong></em></div>
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Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-38557178814906283282013-06-24T07:01:00.001-07:002013-06-24T07:01:28.375-07:00Be strong in grace!<br />
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/photo_2.jpg" style="color: #004477; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="photo_2" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-10633" height="161" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/photo_2.jpg?w=300&h=161" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="300" /></a>Church yesterday was, as per usual, a beautiful experience of worship, fellowship, grace, hope and promise. It was our first Sunday since the news about <a href="http://derekmaul.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/act-iii-rebekah-and-derek-maul-set-to-open-new-chapter-in-north-carolina/" style="color: #004477; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;" title="ACT III: Rebekah and Derek Maul set to open new chapter in North Carolina">Rebekah’s move</a> became public, so there was also a lot of emotion and more than a few tears</div>
<blockquote style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://s2.wp.com/wp-content/themes/pub/journalist/images/quote.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #222222; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 50px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 60px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
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<strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">BE STRONG IN THE GRACE OF JESUS!!</em></strong></div>
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Rebekah’s message was – again, as per usual – spot on. She spoke about the Community of Faith, opening up the questions, “What are we here for? What is our purpose? What is the church?”</div>
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The current podcast should be available sometime this morning; just click on <a href="http://www.fpcbrandon.org/sermons/2013-sermon-podcasts/" style="color: #004477; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">First Presbyterian Church of Brandon 2013 Sermon Podcasts</a>. I really recommend taking the time to listen.</div>
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Sunday was a day full with great conversation, from the worship hour, to Sunday school, to lunch with Tim and Kelly, to our wonderful small-group in the evening. But interestingly – and this is “par for the course” too – it turned out there was a unifying theme that ran deeper than the sum of all the individual parts, and that’s where Second Timothy comes in.</div>
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<strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">2 TIMOTHY:</strong> I read the New Testament book of Second Timothy in preparation for my morning class, and I was captured by the sense of personal communication that came through. The writing commented with unerring relevance at every turn during the day, culminating in our evening meeting, where the text seemed to offer specific wisdom that spoke into our lives and our prayer concerns time and again.</div>
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“I know the one in whom I have put my trust,” Paul writes, “and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him.” And then, like a clarion call to proactive Christian living, “Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.”</div>
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<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">GUARD THE GOOD TREASURE ENTRUSTED TO YOU!!!</strong></em></div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/photo1.jpg" style="color: #004477; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="photo" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-10634" height="61" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/photo1.jpg?w=300&h=61" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="300" /></a>The letter goes on to encourage readers to “Be strong in the grace that is in Jesus,” and refers to the good news not just as <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">the</em> gospel, but as <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">my</em> gospel.</div>
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And I believe I’ve just discovered, or uncovered, my point of inspiration for this Monday morning post. What God is looking for is disciples of Jesus who don’t just think about the Good News as for everyone (which it is), or for the church (which it is), or for their family (which it is), or for their friends (which it is)… but to intentionally engage the amazing message of love and reconciliation and salvation as<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> MY GOSPEL</em>!</div>
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<strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">MY GOSPEL:</strong> This is the good news that is so clear in my heart and mind this morning. God loves me; God sent Jesus to break down all the barriers that have been erected between humankind and God (personal barriers, cultural religious barriers and more…); God invites me to become a Follower of the Way of Jesus; the Holy Spirit fills me with the grace to live a life of love; I have been given the community of faith as a mutual strength and encouragement…</div>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/dsc_00551.jpg" style="color: #004477; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="@[696483709:2048:Derek Maul] - the precipice" class="alignright wp-image-8732" height="270" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/dsc_00551.jpg?w=212&h=270" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="212" /></a>God loves me;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">God sent Jesus to break down all the barriers that have been erected between humankind and God;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">God invites me to become a Follower of the Way of Jesus;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">the Holy Spirit fills me with the grace to live a life of love;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">I have been given the community of faith as a mutual strength and encouragement…</li>
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… and THIS DAY, Monday June 24, just happens to be my latest opportunity (our latest opportunity) to live into the truth of such a good treasure, that has been entrusted to me.</div>
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<strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In hope and in promise – DEREK</em></strong></div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-45208007889132718622013-06-22T14:27:00.001-07:002013-06-22T14:27:23.983-07:00Turn, turn, turn...<br />
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3363.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="IMG_3363" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-10604" height="300" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3363.jpg?w=224&h=300" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: right; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="224" /></a></div>
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<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow</em>. (I Corinthians 3:6-7)</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/letter-r-300x291.png" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="letter-r-300x291" class="alignleft wp-image-10607" height="51" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/letter-r-300x291.png?w=54&h=51" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="54" /></a>ebekah loves to garden (Here’s a picture from yesterday afternoon as she gave away her prize giant bromeliad to our good friend Steve).</div>
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Occasionally, gardening will cost Rebekah in terms of back pain, but she persists because the whole cycle of planting, nurturing, fertilizing, watering, pruning, re-imagining, tearing out, rebuilding, visioning, and sometimes just plain starting over again from scratch is such a beautiful progression, and so theologically apropos.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">GARDENING/MINISTRY:</strong> Gardening, like ministry, is about recognizing and then cultivating unique microclimates. No two gardens are the same, and the rule holds true for communities of faith. When we moved here from Pensacola in 1996 we pretty-much had to learn all over, both at the Presbyterian church and in the back yard.</div>
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The “garden” on Laurel Oak Drive was a veritable wilderness. With the exception of our three big oak trees, absolutely everything has been imagined and grown since we rolled in 17 years ago. There’s a lot going on, from the tiered patio to every imaginable variety of vegetation. But if Rebekah’s garden has been any one thing, it’s been the amazing display of bromeliads.</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3364.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="IMG_3364" class="alignleft wp-image-10609" height="202" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3364.jpg?w=270&h=202" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: left; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="270" /></a><strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">PRINCIPLES:</strong> She had a few bromeliads in Pensacola, but they were all potted, and they had to be invited in during cold weather. Here, we have literally hundreds of specimens, representing scores of distinct varieties. But they are uniquely tropical, and we’ll be forced to reinvent our entire approach the moment we roll into Wake Forest.</div>
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All differences aside, however, there are a few key principles at the heart of a “Rebekah” garden that hold true no matter where we put down roots. Doesn’t matter if we’re in Pensacola, Brandon, Wake Forest, or some desert climate in New Mexico, the gardens may look radically different but they all stem from the same foundational truths that never shift, and always lead to maturity and growth.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">PARALLEL:</strong> I guess I really don’t need to write the balance of this post. Our new church in Wake Forest is going to be another faith-community micro-climate, just as the amazing Body of Christ in Brandon has been and will continue to be. The ministry in Wake Forest is going to be beautiful, and it’s going to thrive.</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/dsc_00131.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="DSC_0013" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-10611" height="200" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/dsc_00131.jpg?w=300&h=200" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: right; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="300" /></a>It’s going to thrive even though it’s going to look nothing like First Presbyterian Church in Brandon. Why? Because the new garden is going to be built on the same essential principles, the timeless message that God invites each one of us to move beyond church membership and into discipleship, to live as committed <em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Followers of the Way of Jesus</em>.</div>
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The bromeliads have been amazing, full and rich and proliferate and colorful, and we’re so happy some of them are going to a good home with Steve. But now it’s going to be a time and a season for day-lilies, hydrangea, dogwoods, azaleas and more….</div>
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Fact is, I don’t even know the half of what’s going to grow and bloom around Wake Forest. But I do know that God will bless the garden.</div>
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<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In the hope of promise – DEREK</strong></em></div>
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<blockquote style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://s1.wp.com/wp-content/themes/pub/journalist/images/quote.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 50px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 60px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
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<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">There is a time for everything,</em><br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">and a season for every activity under the heavens:</em></div>
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<div style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup> a time to be born and a time to die,</em><br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">a time to plant and a time to uproot,</em><br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup> a time to kill and a time to heal,</em><br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">a time to tear down and a time to build,</em><br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup> a time to weep and a time to laugh,</em><br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">a time to mourn and a time to dance,</em><br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup> a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,</em><br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,</em><br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup> a time to search and a time to give up,</em><br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">a time to keep and a time to throw away,</em><br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup> a time to tear and a time to mend,</em><br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">a time to be silent and a time to speak,</em><br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup> a time to love and a time to hate,</em><br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">a time for war and a time for peace.</em></div>
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<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">What do workers gain from their toil? <sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup>I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. <sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup>He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. <sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup>I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. <sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup>That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. <sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup>I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. (Ecclesiastes 3)</em></div>
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Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-69786061180546558152013-06-20T10:57:00.001-07:002013-06-20T10:57:24.393-07:00Moving to NC!<br />
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3086.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="WFPC" class="size-medium wp-image-10570" height="224" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3086.jpg?w=300&h=224" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 2px; border-width: initial; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
WFPC</div>
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<div style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.</em> (Philippians 1:3-6)</div>
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<a href="http://www.derekmaul.wordpress.com/">OK, folks, pretty much everyone we needed to tell personally has received the news by now, so Rebekah and I have agreed it’s time for me to “spill the beans” via my blog. Besides, we’re already being “scooped” by half the population on Facebook!</a></div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">THE FACTS:</strong> First, the short version; after almost 17 years in Brandon, Florida, Rebekah and I are moving to North Carolina.</div>
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Sunday morning (June 16), following an enthusiastic report from their “Pastor Nominating Committee,” the congregation of Wake Forest Presbyterian Church voted, unanimously, to extend a call to Rebekah to be their new senior pastor/head of staff; she will begin her ministry there in mid-August.</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/dsc_00031.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="Rebekah" class="size-medium wp-image-10573" height="300" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/dsc_00031.jpg?w=206&h=300" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 2px; border-width: initial; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="206" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Rebekah</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">THE STORY:</strong> The whole story – of course – turns out to involve much more. It starts in Pensacola, back in 1982, where “ACT I” comprised a rich and exciting 14-year ministry with <em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.trinitypcola.org/" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">Trinity Presbyterian Church</a></em>. The story has grown and continued (“ACT II”) here in Brandon, where we have enjoyed almost 17-years of a shared faith-journey that has been startling in the scope of its blessings, but quite impossible to summarize in a few words (so I’ll save that for another post).</div>
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ACT II has been such a positive affirmation that – a few months ago – it became clear to both of us that we should be open to talking about the possibility of pairing Rebekah’s passion for discipleship with one more community of faith.</div>
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But it had to be a church that both <em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">needs to</em> take a fresh look at those “R” words we’ve been talking about, and <em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">is ready to</em> take a fresh look at those “R” words (reconciliation, redemption, restoration, reaffirmation, rekindling, renewal, rebirth, resurrection, reawakening, reanimation…). These “R” words can be – and will be – remarkable.</div>
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So, in due course, and according to the mysteries of providence, Wake Forest Presbyterian Church and Rebekah Maul found one-another, and fell into an increasingly deep conversation about the possibilities. There were telephone conversations, emails, a Skype interview, more conversation, the trip we both took to visit the community, and then one more Skype conversation where the seven-member team asked, beautifully, “Rebekah, would you come to Wake Forest and be our pastor?”</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3088.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="IMG_3088" class="alignright wp-image-10572" height="179" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3088.jpg?w=240&h=179" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: right; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="240" /></a>ACT III:</strong> This has been a journey that could only have been orchestrated by God. Both of us feel excited, motivated, and specifically called to move to North Carolina and to begin “ACT III” in the context of the hope and promise-laden challenge that is the faith community known as WFPC.</div>
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I promise to write more about this wonder and joy in posts to come, but for today I want all of you to pray for the following:</div>
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<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Wake Forest Presbyterian Church</em>; that they will be open to the moving of the Spirit as they renew their commitment as Followers of the Way of Jesus.</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">First Presbyterian Church of Brandon;</em> that they will enthusiastically embrace the possibilities and the promise of a new direction in the near future.</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Rebekah and Derek Maul</em>; that we will continue to be sensitive to God’s leading as we negotiate the myriad details involved in relocating after 17 amazing years here in Brandon with this faithful church family we love so deeply.</li>
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<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3084.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="IMG_3084" class="alignleft wp-image-10571" height="157" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3084.jpg?w=210&h=157" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: left; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="210" /></a>I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:3-6)</em></div>
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Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-45981048808568483082013-06-18T10:52:00.003-07:002013-06-18T10:52:43.857-07:00New Baby!<br />
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<a href="http://www.derekmaul.wordpress.com/">See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1)</a></div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/photo.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="Craig with the new Campbell, "Rebekah Mae"" class="size-medium wp-image-10545" height="300" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/photo.jpg?w=224&h=300" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 2px; border-width: initial; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="224" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Craig with the new Campbell, “Rebekah Mae”</div>
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This is Rebekah Mae Campbell; she was born early this morning, June 18 2013; she weighs 9 pounds 8 ounces; she is our new granddaughter; she is loved.</div>
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For nine months, or thereabouts, this particular miracle of grace and joy has been preparing for the day she would move out of her comfort zone and into the amazing and wondrous panoply of possibilities that we call “life.”</div>
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And so, wondrous miracle of grace, here are a few words of welcome.</div>
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First, know that you are loved beyond the scope of reason or imagination. Personally, I have spent a lifetime thus far learning to understand the depth, the breadth, the length… and any other parameter that helps define that love; and I can tell you with complete assurance that there are no limits to the kind of love you have been born into. Enjoy.</div>
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Then, I want you to understand that you already have everything you will ever need. For the next 18 years or so, until you become a legal adult, this world is going to try to convince you that you need a wide array of material things in order to be happy. I want you to know right now that you don’t.</div>
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You see, you have a family that loves you, you will develop meaningful relationships with many good people, you will learn and grow and play and develop your unique gifts, and you will discover how your identity as a child of God makes everything complete. So don’t be distracted by what is false, and what will lead you away from the Gospel of Love.</div>
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And that’s all for this morning, Rebekah Mae. I am so thankful for your life, and so full with anticipation and joy for what the future will bring. Children really are God’s answer of hope and promise for a world that so often forgets about what really matters. I know you will help me to remind them all.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In love, and because of love – your Grandaddy Derek</em></strong></div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-5298349992586585452013-06-17T08:33:00.001-07:002013-06-17T08:35:24.454-07:00The Good Fight<br />
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Thoughts from the desk of Derek</div>
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But you, man of God… pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:11-12)</div>
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<a href="http://www.derekmaul.wordpress.com/">Yesterday in church my <em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Everyday Christianity</em> class</a> talked about First Timothy. It was the latest book in our “read through the New Testament” series, and probably one of the most misunderstood. It’s easy to get hung up on specific social commentary relevant to the Roman world (circa 100 CE) and, consequently, to forget the book’s rich collection of spiritual insight.</div>
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We talked about a lot of things, but for me the conversation about what it means to “fight the good fight of the faith” was the most challenging – and I mean “challenging” in a good way.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">MONDAY:</strong> “Fighting the good fight” turns out to be a great thought for Monday morning, a day when a lot of us need a boatload of inspiration and encouragement to emerge from the weekend with a sense of motivation and direction.</div>
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It’s almost as if Monday surprises us – every week – and we have to deal with the fact that life is seldom an easy challenge to engage; and sometimes we’re tired before we even begin, and discouraged, and in a rut; and we think, “Well, shouldn’t it be easier than this?”</div>
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And here’s where faith works so well, because God doesn’t promise to make things easy, just wonderful. So we truly must apply the principles of the good fight, not just because life is worth the effort, but because this is exactly how things work.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">ACTION:</strong> The text instructs us to, “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called…” There’s nothing passive about that idea. We haven’t been introduced to this “New Life in Christ” in order to wait around for the blessings to come rolling in, delivered directly to our doorstep. No, we are told to, “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness…”</div>
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Is there a pattern here? A theme, maybe? An imperative to actually, and proactively, “Live into” what God intends for us to experience?</div>
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Of course there is. It’s the pattern of “the life that is truly life” (verse 19).</div>
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It’s a new week, people, another Monday, another “this is the day the Lord has made.” Time to “TAKE HOLD,” time to live like we mean it <strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">- DEREK</strong></div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-38494027337767900392013-06-13T07:01:00.001-07:002013-06-13T07:01:40.898-07:00Surrender.2<br />
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Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/img_3646.jpg" style="color: #004477; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="birthday pic with (much younger) Rebekah" class="size-medium wp-image-9554" height="300" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/img_3646.jpg?w=225&h=300" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 2px; border-width: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="225" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Encouraging one-another!</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/cut-out-vinyl-letter-a_large.jpg" style="color: #004477; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="Cut-Out-Vinyl-Letter-A_large" class="alignleft wp-image-10514" height="63" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/cut-out-vinyl-letter-a_large.jpg?w=60&h=63" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="60" /></a>couple of days ago I used the phrase, “Surrender to God is not about giving up, but about giving over.” Here’s the exact quote, from “<a href="http://derekmaul.wordpress.com/2013/06/08/giving-the-garden-back-to-god-rain-vibrant-lilies-the-call-to-bloom/" style="color: #004477; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;" title="“giving the garden back to God” – rain, vibrant lilies, & the call to bloom">Giving the Garden Back to God</a>.”</div>
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<strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">SURRENDER:</strong> “Giving it back to God” turns out to be a useful plan for life in general. And I’m talking about surrender rather than resignation. Resignation has to do with giving up, whereas surrender has to do with giving over.</div>
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So Rebekah and I were talking about the idea this morning, over our daily “coffee and newspaper before breakfast” ritual. I had sighed – fairly deeply – about something, and then she had responded with, “Isn’t that the whole idea of surrender to God? Giving over all of our uncertainty, and letting go of our need to feel like we’re always in control, and then replacing it with faith, and belief, and the confidence of stepping into God’s promises?”</div>
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Whatever it was that I was concerned about didn’t go away, but the cutting edge of my anxiety was replaced with the unmistakable fact of God’s comfort and presence. I didn’t “give up,” but instead I “gave the situation over” to God.</div>
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<strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">TWO THINGS:</strong> So there are two principles I want to communicate in this post this morning:</div>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The first is the beauty of walking with God on a day-to-day basis. My confidence in God grows with every step; not God making things necessarily any easier, but God being in things and – consequently – inhabiting the processes with grace and hope and promise.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The second is the beauty of walking in faith with Rebekah, of having these spiritual conversations as a part of the routine of life. I’ll say it again, we should not imagine our “spiritual life” as distinct from our “life.” Our life is our spiritual life. This is (must be) true of our relationships as well, and most especially with our spouse.</li>
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So, peace – the peace that is outside of our traditional human understanding – to you all on this day <strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">- DEREK</em></strong></div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-20137687837009862542013-06-12T09:10:00.002-07:002013-06-12T09:10:05.933-07:00World News<br />
<blockquote style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://s0.wp.com/wp-content/themes/pub/journalist/images/quote.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #222222; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 50px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 60px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
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<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.</em> (1 John 4:16-18)</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/headline_news_logo.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="Headline_News_Logo" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-10500" height="198" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/headline_news_logo.jpg?w=300&h=198" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: right; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="300" /></a>World news headlines this week have continued to push the envelope in terms of the dramatic:</div>
<ul style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Espionage!</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Espionage against our own citizens!</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Riots in Turkey!</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">War and revolution!</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Storms bringing floods and tornadoes!</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Iconic world leaders at death’s door (Mandela)!</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Wildfires!</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Kidnappings!</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Murder!</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">More, much more!!</li>
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Meanwhile, commentators like me doggedly advocate for positive change via the invitation to become<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Followers of The Living Way of Jesus.</em></div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">SO WHAT?</strong> Nice. Bravo. “Preach it!” Whoop-de-do. However, having made such a profound statement of applied faith, what does that look like? And how “in the world” can being a disciple of Jesus actually make any difference?</div>
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Good question. So today, in one more of those handy “Top-10″ lists, I have included the following, “10 Ways You Can Change the World for Good.”</div>
<ol style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 40px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Believe, with a passion, from the moment your eyes open and your feet hit the floor on your side of the bed…</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Live as if what you say you believe is actually true (live faith out loud)…</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Harness the power of prayer as a constant open line of communication…</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Let love be your guide (see 1 John 4)…</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Live with an “attitude of gratitude,” front and center…</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“Don’t be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourself” (Philippians 2:3)…</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Never begin a conversation without first placing Jesus, visually, in the room with you…</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Use your gifts as resources placed, by God, in trust with you…</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Become a committed, active member of a faith community…</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Tell the truth about the Gospel of Love, simply by being….</li>
</ol>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">STARTING PLACE:</strong> This list is neither definitive nor all-encompassing. However, if everyone in the USA who is even vaguely interested in faith were to follow these ten principles, then the consequence would be to effectively change individuals, families, churches, communities, and – eventually – nations.</div>
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Listen closely. I’m not suggesting conversion to a religion. Instead, I’m simply recommending a conscious decision to follow Jesus. If you do, <em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">if you dare to live this challenge</em>, then I can promise you nothing less than a transformed life… in a transformed world.</div>
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So, are you in? <em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">- DEREK</strong></em></div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-4747529209999261632013-06-10T07:22:00.001-07:002013-06-10T07:22:21.338-07:00Open-Spirited<br />
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<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Jesus asked [Bartimaeus], “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said, “Teacher, I want to see.” (Mark 10:51)</em></div>
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Thoughts from the desk of Derek</div>
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<strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">THE LETTER “R” -</strong> Sunday morning, the focus at <a href="http://fpcbrandon.org/" style="color: #004477; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">First Presbyterian Church of Brandon</a> was on “R”-words. Not just R, but words that started with “RE.” You know, words such as “redemption,” “renewal,” “resurrection,” and “remarkable.”</div>
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Tim – who was preaching – opened by pointing out that, over the previous two weeks, Rebekah had already focused on “remember,” and “reconciliation;” and then she interrupted him to point out that she is an “R-word” too.</div>
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My “Everyday Christianity” class picked up the theme during our church-school hour discussion of First Peter, adding several relevant R-words to the mix. Then, later, I couldn’t help but think about ideas such as “relationships,” “reality,” “renovation,” “restoration,” and “rejuvenation” when it comes to our experience of living faith.</div>
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<strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">THE LETTER “C” -</strong> In the evening our small-group met. 18 of us sitting around a large, square, table for dinner, conversation, study, support, prayer and encouragement; it’s always a beautiful and affirming experience.</div>
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Our current study – in another nod to the <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://fpcbrandon.org/" style="color: #004477; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">Sesame-Street Presbyterian Church</a></em> style of learning – is <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">being brought to us by the letter “C.</em>” We’ve been talking about leadership in terms of Competence, Courage, Clarity, Coaching and Character (From Andy Stanley’s book, Next Generation Leader).</div>
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Clarity (yesterday’s word) is one of my favorites. Clarity is one of my “10 Life-Charged Words,” yet it seems like too many of us live in a spiritual fog and routinely experience a “now I see through a glass, darkly” kind of a world.</div>
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Fact is, Jesus was forever telling people things like:</div>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“Open your eyes!”</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“If you only had ears, then maybe you could hear!”</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“If you all paid attention then you might get it!”</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“How many different ways do I have to explain this to you?”</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“Are you people even listening?”</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“Could you [disciples] be any thicker if you tried?”</li>
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If the word “duh!” had been invented 2,000 years ago, then Jesus would have made a point of using it all the time!</div>
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<strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">OPEN-SPIRITED:</strong> When I wrote <a href="http://bookstore.upperroom.org/cart/upperroom/p-22552.htm" style="color: #004477; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">10 Life-Charged Words</a> I coined the phrase “open-spirited” to describe people who are willing to see with new eyes and to ask Jesus in to add clarity to their vision. However, not only did spell-check have a hard time with the concept, but one of my editors kept changing “open-spirited” to “open-minded.”</div>
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“No,” I had to say, “leave it alone! The term open-spirited is both descriptive and prescriptive. If we’re going to gain clarity, then we must approach life, and faith, and relationships, and the future, with open spirits.”</div>
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I like that. So I’ll repeat it. It probably should be my entire post.</div>
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<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">I</strong><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">f we’re going to gain clarity, then we must approach life, and faith, and relationships, and the future, with open spirits.</strong></em></div>
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<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">- DEREK</strong></em></div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-8903836920593664192013-06-08T14:03:00.003-07:002013-06-08T14:05:23.926-07:00I surrender all<br />
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3278.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="IMG_3278" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-10469" height="224" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3278.jpg?w=300&h=224" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: right; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="300" /></a>NOTE: Read this blog at its home location <a href="http://www.derekmaul.wordpress.com/">www.derekmaul.wordpress.com</a>:</div>
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Here in the Tampa area we’re well into our “summer pattern” of Florida weather. That means heat, humidity, afternoon storms and the occasional tropical system blowing through.</div>
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One positive about all this (mostly) is the unremitting growth. Grass, flowers, trees, mold, weeds, everything. You name it, and it’s going to grow, grow, grow. Our new sod is beautiful; thick, green, tall. Even the old grass is doing well.</div>
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Then there are my favorites, the beautiful flowers you see in the picture. I’m sure they have a scientific classification, but Rebekah and I simply call them “Rain Lilies,” because every time it rains we get a new flush that seem to appear without any prior announcement. They last just a few days, then wither away in the heat. But every time there’s a fresh rain the lilies come back, bright and fresh and full of affirmation.</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3277.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="IMG_3277" class="alignleft wp-image-10470" height="179" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3277.jpg?w=240&h=179" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: left; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="240" /></a>Our Rain Lilies have proliferated well beyond our carefully conceived plans. Instead of “a few along this pathway,” and “a bunch under this tree,” the lilies have taken up residence in three distinct areas: “hither,” “thither,” and “yon.” They seem to have a more balanced sense of outdoor design than the naive homeowners who first tried sketching it all out on a graph before eventually throwing their hands in the air.</div>
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Rebekah has a phrase for this level of landscape architecture. “We’ve given the garden back to God,” she says.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">SURRENDER:</strong> “Giving it back to God” turns out to be a useful plan for life in general. And I’m talking about surrender rather than resignation. Resignation has to do with giving up, whereas surrender has to do with giving over.</div>
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<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Not “<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Giving up</em>,” but “<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Giving over.</em>“</li>
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Personally, I’ve found that’s when I tend to bloom; that’s when I shine like “the lilies of the field;” that’s when the refreshing rain of God’s love, and grace, and mercy transform me – albeit for just a short while – into something alive, vibrant, and beautiful!</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">– DEREK</em></strong></div>
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All to Jesus I surrender,<br />
All to Him I freely give;<br />
I will ever love and trust Him,<br />
In His presence daily live.</div>
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I surrender all,<br />
I surrender all.<br />
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,<br />
I surrender all.</div>
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All to Jesus I surrender,<br />
Humbly at His feet I bow,<br />
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;<br />
Take me, Jesus, take me now.</div>
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All to Jesus I surrender,<br />
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;<br />
Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit,<br />
Truly know that Thou art mine.</div>
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All to Jesus I surrender,<br />
Lord, I give myself to Thee;<br />
Fill me with Thy love and power,<br />
Let Thy blessing fall on me.</div>
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All to Jesus I surrender,<br />
Now I feel the sacred flame.<br />
Oh, the joy of full salvation!<br />
Glory, glory to His name!</div>
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Judson W. Van De Venter, 1896</div>
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Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-55125084903360329222013-06-06T10:10:00.001-07:002013-06-06T10:10:27.594-07:00Theophany - CS Lewis - <br />
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Typically, I field a lot of light-hearted complaints about the archaic language, the obtuse references, and the frequent incidences of “I don’t have enough active, on-task, brain cells to follow C.S. Lewis’s complex sentence/thought/paragraph.” I tend to call this phenomenon OBM, or “obfuscation by milieu” (meaning the difference between how people thought, reasoned, and expressed themselves as we compare mid-20th-Century Oxford with Brandon in 2013!).</div>
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Part of our discussion centered on miracles, and the other on the word “theophany.” It turns out it was essentially the same conversation.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">MIRACLES</strong>: Lewis’s writing about the supernatural turned on his observation that miracles are, by definition, unprovable. So-called evidence either holds up or is dismissed not by virtue of scientific verification but the “philosophical views we hold before we even begin to look at the evidence.”</div>
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As our conversation progressed, I asked the guys to share examples of the miraculous in their own experience. Testimonies ranged from literally hearing the voice of God, to physical healing, to the birth of a child.</div>
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“I have a possibly useful definition of ‘miracle,’” I said, responding to what felt to me like the prompting of the Spirit. “How about anything and everything we experience because we know Jesus? Think about how your life is different today because you follow Jesus; could we not then say that everything that is attributable to our identity as a ‘Jesus-Follower,’ every single day, is a miracle?”</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">THEOPHANY:</strong> One of the reasons I enjoy reading Lewis so much is how he not only enriches my vocabulary but encourages me to plumb new depths of thought and understanding. The word theophany means, essentially, “the appearance of a god to a human.”</div>
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Lewis used the word in <em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Letters to Malcolm</em>, chapter 15. I immediately reviewed the stories the guys had been sharing and pointed out how they were all examples of theophany.</div>
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“Theophany is, I believe, the most profound miracle we can experience,” I said. “A healed relationship to God, experienced in our everyday lives, is the heart of The Greatest Story Ever Told. It is the undergirding miracle that makes every other miracle possible. It is the reason Jesus came, and the reason Jesus continues to live in and through us.”</div>
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This is why I always urge people to share a fresh, simple “God moment” from the past few days, not a standard or <em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">clichéd</em> ”testimony” from the dusty spiritual archives. There may not be a game-changing theophany waiting for us at every single turn of our day, but there is a God patiently waiting to at least be invited into the conversation.</div>
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<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19)</em></div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">- DEREK</em></strong></div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-10198847097024163362013-06-03T08:48:00.001-07:002013-06-03T08:48:24.478-07:00how we read the Bible matters<br />
<blockquote style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://s2.wp.com/wp-content/themes/pub/journalist/images/quote.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #222222; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 50px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 60px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
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<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.</em></div>
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<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.</em></div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3267.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="IMG_3267" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-10411" height="224" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_3267.jpg?w=300&h=224" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: right; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="300" /></a><a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/img-thing.jpeg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="img-thing" class="alignleft wp-image-9200" height="63" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/img-thing.jpeg?w=32&h=63" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="32" /></a>confess that I’ve dedicated a lot of posts this year to writing about my interface with the Bible. The short story (for those of you new to this blog) is that my Sunday morning study group has been reading the New Testament, one book per week, in the order (best guess) the books were written. Consequently, while we started with First Thessalonians back in January, we only got to Second Thessalonians this weekend.</div>
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The result of this approach to reading has been to open up the story (<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Greatest Story Ever Told)</em> in a new way, and – as I have saturated myself with the New Testament writings – to kindle a renewed passion for God’s Word. Of course the focus of my reading continues to be more devotional than academic, but, still, I’ve almost come to the place where I can call myself a serious student of scripture.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">HOW DO WE READ?</strong> Part of our conversation Sunday morning was in response to my question about our personal response to God’s Word. We can – for example – be captured by the sense of ongoing story, we can read historically, we can enjoy scripture as literature, we can respond to the text as a religious guide, and/or we can engage the writings of the Bible as a spiritual experience.</div>
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Personally, I have (and am) experiencing my Bible reading in each one of these ways. I tend to respond to different stories in different ways at different times. One profound effect of reading entire books in a single sitting is to experience the “arc of the narrative” from beginning to end. Reading Acts (a long book) last week, for example, gave me a “big picture” appreciation of the story I’d never come close to experiencing before.</div>
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But the critical point that emerged in yesterday’s conversation was this: no matter what else is going on, the factors of “sanctification by the Spirit” and “belief in the truth” are always transformational. These two elements – my choice to believe, and the work of the Holy Spirit – tend to make all the difference.</div>
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<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">My choice to believe</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The work of the Holy Spirit</li>
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So I’ll conclude by throwing out the challenge not only to read more Bible this week, but to do so in the context of the presence of the Spirit and the conscious choice to believe <strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">- DEREK</em></strong></div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-85780604245786144952013-05-30T12:06:00.001-07:002013-05-30T12:06:57.010-07:00TAPS<br />
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/dsc_00061.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="DSC_0006" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-10377" height="200" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/dsc_00061.jpg?w=300&h=200" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: right; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="300" /></a>Some days, when I’m not sure what to post in my “Life-Charged Life” blog, I look to see if I’ve taken any potentially inspirational photographs over the past 24 hours. Hence the Rebekah and Scout image.</div>
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Wednesday morning, heading out to work, Rebekah paused for a little “garden meditation time,” and Scout decided the bench looked a lot better than the rough patio stones on the ground.</div>
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Rebekah’s garden bench (and you already know this if you’ve listened to her preach more than a couple of times) is where she traditionally hangs out for her “Coffee with Jesus” prior to the challenges and the distractions of the day. It’s her equivalent of my walking meditation time with Scout.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">TAPS:</strong> Late morning I picked Rebekah up at church and we headed to the National Cemetery on the south side of Sarasota, to be present as final honors were spoken, “taps” were played, and the American flag was presented on behalf of our friend Gay’s recently deceased father, Rudolph Robsel; he was 94-years-old.</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/img_3258.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt=""Taps"" class=" wp-image-10379 " height="179" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/img_3258.jpg?w=240&h=179" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 2px; border-width: initial; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="240" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
“Taps”</div>
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It was a beautiful blustery day, with colorful skies and gusting winds. The honor guard fought the breeze valiantly, folding the flag with precision, and playing taps with both strength and tenderness. Sometimes, the silence in the folding ceremony speaks as clearly as Lincoln at Gettysburg, timeless words etched on the stone pillar where we gathered before the ceremony .</div>
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Then we headed home again, pausing for a few minutes to share a cup of tea with my parents before jumping back onto the roller-coaster of daily life.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">PERSPECTIVE:</strong> Today, the three events speak volumes to me. Getting the day going with Jesus; honoring the life and memory of a good man who lived well; pausing for tea with people we love….</div>
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Outside of our ongoing journey with God, our understanding of eternity, and the relationships we nurture with the people we love, the difficulties and irritations that often beset our daily routine assume their proper value.</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/img_3260.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="IMG_3260" class="alignright wp-image-10378" height="179" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/img_3260.jpg?w=240&h=179" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: right; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="240" /></a>Don’t store up treasures on earth! Moths and rust can destroy them, and thieves can break in and steal them. Instead, store up your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy them, and thieves cannot break in and steal them. Your heart will always be where your treasure is. (Matthew 6:19-12)</div>
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Today may you experience deep peace, rich blessings, and the ability to see God with clarity <em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">- DEREK</strong></em></div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-70658694479492026052013-05-29T13:32:00.002-07:002013-05-29T13:32:39.247-07:00spring cleaning<br />
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/dsc_0009.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="look, actual grass!" class="size-large wp-image-10354" height="466" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/dsc_0009.jpg?w=700&h=466" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 2px; border-width: initial; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="700" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
look, actual grass!</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/latin_w.png" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="Latin_W" class="alignleft wp-image-10362" height="30" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/latin_w.png?w=50&h=30" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="50" /></a>e’ve been doing quite a lot of work on the house, lately; kind of an extended spring cleaning. The grass that went in four weeks ago is doing really well and – according to the instructions I’m carefully following – I get to mow it for the first time next week. It’s amazing how much better the entire place looks when you exchange dirt for a nice, hairy, green lawn.</div>
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Additionally, we pressure-washed the exterior, including porch, driveway, sidewalks and gutters. The truth is, you don’t really notice how grimy something is until after it’s cleaned. All that, plus a lot of mulch and a punch-list of minor repairs, and I don’t think the place has ever looked better.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">WORTH THE EFFORT:</strong> We started this process around a month ago, and here’s what we’ve noticed. It’s not only easier to keep a house looking really nice once we make the initial effort, it actually facilitates more enjoyment across the board.</div>
<ul style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In my study, writing comes more naturally in a comfortable, well-organized space;</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In the kitchen, cooking and doing dishes is less of a chore when everything looks so good;</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It’s more peaceful to drink coffee in a clean porch;</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">And down time is more relaxing when the family room isn’t crying for someone to put stuff away.</li>
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In other words, the whole cycle of “Fall behind, feel bad about it, bust your butt playing catch up, immediately commence to let things slip, then fall behind again…” compromises not only appearance, but comfort and enjoyment too.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/dsc_00051.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="DSC_0005" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-10360" height="200" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/dsc_00051.jpg?w=300&h=200" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: left; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="300" /></a>FAITH:</strong> The same principles seem to make sense when it comes to my spiritual journey, too.</div>
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Sometimes I really do need a big “catch-up” event, such as a retreat or an unusually powerful worship experience. But devotion that is practiced every day is more powerful still, and moving into closer proximity to God is not so unusual when seeking God’s presence is a regular event, and reading God’s word involves more clarity and understanding when I camp out there on a regular basis….</div>
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What I’m continually learning (across the board) is this strong relationship between intentional practice and a more vibrant experience of life. It’s the same idea when I’m gardening, taking care of our home, playing my guitar, nurturing a relationship, or being a follower of the Way of Jesus. If anything is going to mean anything at all in the long run, then what I care about is going to require investment, nurture, and daily attention.</div>
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<blockquote style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://s1.wp.com/wp-content/themes/pub/journalist/images/quote.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 50px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 60px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
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Your teachings are wonderful,<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />and I respect them all.<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup>Understanding your word<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />brings light<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />to the minds<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />of ordinary people.<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup>I honestly want to know<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />everything you teach.<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup>Think about me and be kind,<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />just as you are to everyone<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />who loves your name.<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup>Keep your promise<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />and don’t let me stumble<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />or let sin control my life.<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup>Protect me from abuse,<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />so I can obey your laws.<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup> Smile on me, your servant,<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />and teach me your laws.<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup>When anyone disobeys you,<br style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />my eyes overflow with tears. (Psalm 119)</div>
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In this life-charged life, sometimes the process and the result can be essentially the same thing <em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">- DEREK</strong></em></div>
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Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-80761764120699337602013-05-28T07:09:00.001-07:002013-05-28T07:09:28.830-07:002013 Grads<br />
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/dsc_00171.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="Aunt Rebekah congratulating the niecers" class="size-medium wp-image-10341" height="215" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/dsc_00171.jpg?w=300&h=215" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 2px; border-width: initial; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Aunt Rebekah congratulating the niecers</div>
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This post is written for my “niecers,” Lindsay and Jordan. The rest of you are welcome to read along <strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">- DEREK</em></strong></div>
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The “other side” of Memorial Day is the ubiquitous “Family Picnic.” Traditionally, the Florida arm of Rebekah’s family gathers at Joe and Cheryl’s domicile in Orlando.</div>
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The picnic typically features siblings Rebekah (Tampa), Joe (Orlando), and Jesse (Jacksonville), along with various children and assorted other relatives and friends. But the BIG DEAL this year is the “two-fer” high-school graduation; nieces Jordan and Lindsay, and the end of an era for “The Second Five.”</div>
<ul style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<li style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">NOTE: “The Second Five” refers to the cousins. Rebekah and her sister Rachel had “The First Five” in a frenzied sequence of baby production from 1981-1986. Later, after a long pause, her brothers Jesse and Joe got on board with “The Second Five,” 1994-2003.</li>
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Rebekah and her brothers</div>
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<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Second Five</em> have always been “the little cousins.” But this year, with Jordan and Lindsay heading off to Florida Southern and UF respectively, those days are officially done. So they were showered with gifts and love and festivity and encouragement and – most of all – belief.</div>
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What I mean by “belief” is the fact that Jordan and Lindsay (and the other three) are being launched into “the world” from the context of a family ethos that understands the nature of providence. And this is the real subject of my post today: providence. What it means, and how it applies (or can apply) to our pursuit of this “Life-Charged Life.”</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">PROVIDENCE:</strong> “Providence” (as defined in <em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://bookstore.upperroom.org/cart/upperroom/p-16262.htm" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">GET REAL: a spiritual journey for men</a></em>, p. 26) is: “A crossroads of sorts – that compelling place where God’s will and our choosing him work together.”</div>
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The idea of fatalism supposes that “it is written,” that what’s going to happen is – inevitably – going to happen, and there’s nothing anyone can do to effect the outcome. Whereas providence suggests a relationship between God’s intention for our lives and our obedient response, our choosing God, our saying “yes” to God’s creative plans for us.</div>
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Our great opportunity is to seize moments like that, to take Jesus at his word and to step unhesitatingly into the challenge of doing God’s will. When we do, there is no telling where he might lead us. (<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">GET REAL</em>: pp. 26-27)</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/dsc_0052.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="DSC_0052" class="alignright wp-image-10346" height="180" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/dsc_0052.jpg?w=270&h=180" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: right; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="270" /></a>Our family believes that our two beautiful high-school graduating nieces, resolute in their commitment to follow Jesus, are going to make a profound impact for good in this world, and that it is the context of faith that is going to make all the difference.</div>
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We understand very clearly that life does, and will, present huge challenges, and that there will be a steep learning curve over these next few years. Challenge is true for all of us, no matter what age we happen to be, and what context of life we are currently engaging; but the following is also – abundantly – true:</div>
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As surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.”For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us,<sup style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </sup>set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Corinthians 1)</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/dsc_0033.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="DSC_0033" class="alignleft wp-image-10347" height="240" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/dsc_0033.jpg?w=159&h=240" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: left; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="159" /></a>Or, as the last few verses are translated in <em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Message</em>, “Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God’s Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete.”</div>
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And that, dear niecers, is what I want you to take with you into the rest of your lives. God’s yes and our yes, together.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Love and blessings, always – Uncle Derek</em></strong></div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-47196962529493905442013-05-24T10:29:00.002-07:002013-05-24T10:29:52.668-07:00beauty and tragedy <br />
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/481846_954462243352_892946667_n.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="David with his Daddy, Craig. That's a picture of love and complete trust." class="size-medium wp-image-10312" height="300" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/481846_954462243352_892946667_n.jpg?w=300&h=300" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 2px; border-width: initial; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
David with his Daddy, Craig. That’s a picture of love and complete trust.</div>
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For the second time this week, I’m plugging in a couple of family photographs to go with my morning words. As I’ve watched the deep drama of so many events play out all week long, often extremely close to home, and as I’ve read scriptures in my morning devotional times, I can’t get these images out of my mind.</div>
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Just a couple of days ago one good friend announced – with great joy – that his first grandchild had been born; just a few hours later another good friend was devastated by the news that his five-year-old granddaughter had died. Both men are members of my small group. That same day, the mother of one of our preschool children gave a kidney to her two-year-old (they are both doing well). The next day, in Pensacola, one of Andrew and Naomi’s childhood friends died suddenly, he was 30 years old.</div>
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The events of life are sometimes overwhelming; but even when tragedy seems to predominate – both on the world stage and closer to home – we still refer to our experience as “life.” This is because life is irrepressible, and because “life” is a larger concept than the mere span of years we experience here on earth.</div>
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I like the way Rebekah often phrases the idea during funerals and memorial services at our church, “Life as we experience it is not enough to explain life.” And, “We were created for eternity.”</div>
<div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_10314" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #222222; float: left; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center; width: 280px;">
<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/934743_948243575612_1550650649_n.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="The new baby is almost here!" class=" wp-image-10314 " height="270" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/934743_948243575612_1550650649_n.jpg?w=270&h=270" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 2px; border-width: initial; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="270" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
The new baby is almost here!</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">NEW LIFE:</strong> I think it is actually very beautiful that birth so often comes along in the same moment as tragedy and grief. Both experiences are passages, book-ends of our span of time here in this particular element of time and space.</div>
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That’s why our anchoring in the firm permanence of God’s unchanging faithfulness is such a critical fixed point in the way we navigate life. People live and die; governments and institutions are absorbed into the passage of time; civilizations rise and crumble; continents shift with the Earth’s crust; stars collide; galaxies disappear into the void…</div>
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…Yet God exists, not outside but beyond the limitations of time, and space, and imagination, and expectation. I find tremendous comfort and confidence in the knowledge of such definitive stability, in a world that is always just a heartbeat or two away from another crisis.</div>
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The bottom line here is not just that I know where I stand, but that I stand with Jesus, the foundation and the fruition of God’s unswerving Covenant of Love.</div>
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<div style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The bottom line here is not just that I know where I stand, but that I stand with Jesus, the foundation and the fruition of God’s unswerving Covenant of Love.</em></div>
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<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_10317" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #222222; float: right; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center; width: 280px;">
<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/936940_10102023110297592_2010735637_n.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="Andrew and Alicia in Chernobyl a couple of weeks ago" class=" wp-image-10317 " height="203" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/936940_10102023110297592_2010735637_n.jpg?w=270&h=203" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 2px; border-width: initial; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="270" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Andrew and Alicia in Chernobyl a couple of weeks ago</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">WHAT’S NEXT?</strong> Over the next few days (and weeks, and years), each one of us is going to be witness to the marvelous unpredictability that is life.</div>
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There will be births (Rebekah Mae, to Naomi and Craig), weddings (Andrew and Alicia), and also things we can’t even imagine. Change is a constant, it’s part of who we are. That’s another reason why, in my understanding of how this constant dance of life works, fixing my anchor in the solid rock of God’s unwavering love in Jesus feeds my soul. Outside of that fixed point of pure light, there is no navigation that makes any sense.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">- DEREK</em></strong></div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-87658642098452378222013-05-23T10:26:00.002-07:002013-05-23T10:26:22.276-07:00Live as Children of the Light<br />
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Jesus said, “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God.” (Luke 11:42)</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/img_3229.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="Wednesday afternoon reading material" class="size-medium wp-image-10298 " height="224" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/img_3229.jpg?w=300&h=224" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 2px; border-width: initial; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Wednesday afternoon reading material</div>
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Over the past few weeks, discussions in my “The Men’s Room” small group have been anchored in the writings of C.S. Lewis. We also read scripture, share from our lives, and pray for one another; but the topics have all come from our C.S. Lewis “sampler,” <em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Readings for Meditation and Reflection</em>.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">TRANSCENDENCE:</strong> One idea this week had to do with the difference between looking “at” and looking “along,” a perspective that can only be achieved by entering into an experience.</div>
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Lewis’s illustration was a beam of sunlight he had seen in a toolshed. Looking at the beam of light revealed little but the stark contrast between light and darkness (as well a a lot of dust!). However, when he stood in the light, looking along the light, Lewis could see all the way to the outside of the shed, to the leaves of the tree and beyond, and “ninety-odd million miles away, the sun.”</div>
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And so my men’s group talked about the way that “entering in” to a spiritual life with God can transcend the often poorly designed structure that is apparent from the outside. The external view often focuses on flawed human institutions, personalities, hypocrisies, legalism, religious obligations, conflicts, misunderstandings, and all the variations of interpretation when it comes to reading scriptures…</div>
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…Whereas, once we step into the light, once we set aside everything that distracts, once we come to the realization that, at the essence of faith, what we really want and need is to see Jesus, then we are no longer simply looking at the shaft of light but we have entered into the light, and the light has commenced to take up residence in the core of our nature.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">BORN FROM ABOVE:</strong> When that happens, when God has been (and constantly <em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">is</em>) so welcomed, then the imbalance that Jesus referenced (“you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God”) will begin to disappear.</div>
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However, if we fail to invite Jesus to live in us, and to transform us with his kind of life, then even the practice of justice will default to legalism and we will have missed the point.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/dsc_0055.jpg" style="color: #004477; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="@[696483709:2048:Derek Maul] - the precipice" class="wp-image-8455 alignright" height="240" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/dsc_0055.jpg?w=189&h=240" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 133, 181); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; float: right; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px;" width="189" /></a>THE POINT:</strong> And the point, of course, is that Jesus invites us to participate in the ongoing work of God. That’s what the word “salvation” really means. It means that we live into the fact of God’s love for us and the fact of God’s love for this world through us. We don’t stand outside anymore, admiring the light; we step into the light, invite the light into our deepest places, and then live as Children of the Light.</div>
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For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness,righteousness and truth). – Ephesians 5:8-9</div>
</blockquote>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In love, and because of love – DEREK</em></strong></div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-28963063216435791112013-05-22T07:42:00.001-07:002013-05-22T07:42:17.161-07:00truth in advertising - job titles<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 22px;"></span><br />
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The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy. (Proverbs 12:22)</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/dsc_0006.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #26ade4; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="DSC_0006" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-10286" height="203" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/dsc_0006.jpg?w=300&h=203" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="300" /></a>Yesterday I had this great conversation with the circulation folk at <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Tampa Tribune</em>. It’s renewal time and – having noticed how Rebekah and I haven’t had time to read the Sunday edition in over a year – I wanted to tweak our subscription.</div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The first person I spoke with didn’t have the access necessary to make the adjustment, so she asked me to hold for the next person up on the food chain. “No problem,” I said, “thanks for your help.”</div>
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About three minutes later a voice came on the phone, “Escalation desk; good afternoon, this is ‘Rita.’”</div>
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“Hello,” I replied. “But I’m not sure I heard you correctly. Did you say <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">escalation</em>desk?”</div>
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“That’s right,” she said. “It’s another word for ‘supervisor.’”</div>
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“That’s awesome!” I said. “I love your job title; it’s the most accurate possible outside of, ‘<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The person we make customers talk with when they start to go off the deep end!</em>‘ What percentage of the people you talk with get passed on to you because they’re irate?”</div>
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That’s when she started to giggle. “You’ve no idea how nice it is to have a pleasant conversation,” she said. “You can call back any time if you’re going to make me laugh.”</div>
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We got the subscription details sorted out easily, but it made me wonder about how cool it would be if all job titles were as accurate as “Escalation Desk.”</div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">TRUTH:</strong> Here are a few alternate job titles that immediately come to mind (Please feel free to send me more ideas):</div>
<ul style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Claim Denier” – (health benefits counselor)</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Travel Killjoy” – (TSA worker)</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Let me ignore you while I’m texting my friends” – (supermarket checkout clerk)</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Flim-flam artist” – (member of Congress)</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Director of Wishful Thinking” – (marketing specialist)</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hold-button operator” – (customer service representative)</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Cliché expert” – (football coach)</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Commute disabler” – (road construction worker)</li>
</ul>
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In my imaginary “accurate job-description” world, I call the phone company and they answer, “Good morning, I’m here to waste your time, fail to answer your questions, and talk you into a ‘savings-bundle’ that will turn out to increase your bill by 30%.”</div>
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When I contact my health insurance, the representative will say, “Greetings, I’m in charge of making sure we don’t pay a dime on your claim. We love collecting your high premium but we’d rather stash it in offshore accounts where our executives can enrich themselves at your expense while we deny basic services. That’s why we give you confusing information and routinely deny everything the first time it crosses our desks. Have a nice day.”</div>
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The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy. (Proverbs 12:22)</div>
</blockquote>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">- DEREK</em></strong></div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-83850475500306391962013-05-21T10:53:00.001-07:002013-05-21T10:53:57.705-07:00coffee<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 22px;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/img_3224.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #26ade4; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="IMG_3224" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-10270" height="224" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/img_3224.jpg?w=300&h=224" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="300" /></a>It’s been a while since I last wrote an ode to coffee. Considering how much time and attention I give other passions in my life, it seems only reasonable that I mention the <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Magic Joe</em> every once in a while.</div>
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A couple of weeks ago, when I was in Nashville for a men’s conference, my small group responded to the question: “Share something that you don’t think you could live without.” Being the leader, and the conference speaker, I thought I’d model something on the “less deep” end of the spectrum, to let the guys know I wasn’t expecting them to bare their souls every time they opened their mouths.</div>
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“Coffee,” I said. “I’m honestly not sure that I could maintain my quality of life if I didn’t have access to coffee every morning.”</div>
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The guys in my group nodded politely, and a few eyebrows raised. Then they proceeded, man after man, to share profound spiritual insights about their spiritual walk, their families, and their community of faith. I felt like the man who shows up at dinner in shorts and a t-shirt and everyone else is sporting their Sunday best!</div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/dsc_0067.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #26ade4; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="DSC_0067" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-10274" height="200" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/dsc_0067.jpg?w=300&h=200" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="300" /></a>JOE BY ANY OTHER NAME:</strong>But I really wasn’t kidding about the coffee. Java. Joe. Mocha. Mud. Brain Juice. Cup-of-jolt. Sludge. High octane. Rocket fuel. Brewtus. C8H10N4O2. I really don’t think I could be a writer without it.</div>
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That last one (if you didn’t already know) is the chemical formula for caffeine. I just threw it in the list to sound – you know – all knowledgeable and erudite; I didn’t have any idea about the formula before I looked it up a minute ago. That’s what too much caffeine will do for you.</div>
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I love regional coffees, beans harvested in places where micro-climates produce unique flavors. Columbian is my standby, but favorites also include Costa Rican, Green Mountain, Kona, Kenyan, Ethiopian, Sumatran, and that ridiculously expensive coffee from Jamaica.</div>
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I also appreciate unique preparations. Here in Tampa the Cuban <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Café con leche </em>is wonderful; you can’t beat <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">espresso</em> and <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">cappuccino</em> in Italy; French <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Café au lait</em> is another favorite. In fact, take me to any local cafe in any culture and I’ll likely swoon over the way they prepare coffee.</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/img_3225.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #26ade4; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="IMG_3225" class="alignright wp-image-10273" height="157" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/img_3225.jpg?w=210&h=157" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="210" /></a>That said, I can’t stand it when people spoil an otherwise solid pot of Joe with “frou-frou” flavors like French Vanilla, Almond Cream, Creamy Caramel or some such aberration. Add all the flavor you want to your own mug, but please let the community pot be coffee and nothing else!</div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">PREPARATION AND PRESENTATION:</strong> As for preparation, I have an espresso machine but I usually drip. Percolating is great, <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">French Press</em> is overrated, and instant is an affront to be avoided unless there’s an emergency. Typically, I add just a little cream, and I eliminated sugar over a year ago. I take my espresso neat.</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/img_3226.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #26ade4; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="IMG_3226" class="alignleft wp-image-10277" height="252" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/img_3226.jpg?w=217&h=252" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="217" /></a>Finally, and this is important, coffee must be presented in some kind of a ceramic mug. The other day I stopped at Panera and asked for “a real mug.” The barista sighed heavily, rolled her eyes, and eventually found a nice drinking cup (actually, she couldn’t have been a real barista or she wouldn’t have rolled her eyes at “real mug”). That was when she asked me, “Is this for here or to go?”</div>
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I think she needed a double shot of espresso!</div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-73611298839161695922013-05-20T06:48:00.001-07:002013-05-20T06:48:09.587-07:00the cure for Monday<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 22px;"></span><br />
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This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it! (Psalm 118:24)</div>
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Looking into the new week</div>
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At the entry point to a busy and seriously over-scheduled week, I thought I’d let my grandson, David, offer some perspective. He’s not exactly “quotable” at this point in his life (he tends to laugh, clap his hands, or run away when I ask him direct questions), but he is communicating loud and clear when it comes to perspective.</div>
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The official title (from Naomi) to this first picture is, “David spying on the neighbors.” But I’m re-captioning the image as, “David looking into the new week.” He has climbed up on the heating vent to get a better look, he is constantly loaded with anticipation, and his enthusiasm for “what’s next,” and “what’s possible” simply cannot be contained.</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/548491_952713787272_1637631519_n.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #26ade4; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt=""I'm swinging! Yay! When I'm done I may just move over to the hammock!"" class="size-medium wp-image-10259 " height="300" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/548491_952713787272_1637631519_n.jpg?w=225&h=300" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 5px; max-width: 98%;" width="225" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
“I’m swinging! When I’m done I may just move over to the hammock!”</div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">NON-STOP!!!</strong> David’s default setting is “Go;” his forecast is constantly “Sunny with an occasional chance of brief, local, thunderstorms;” his curiosity is boundless; and his schedule is “Now!”</div>
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With all the details I have planned for this week, I could use a good shot of David to get things off to a humming start.</div>
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Fact is, none of us really know exactly what this day has in store, and what we’ll see in our rear-view mirror once we make it through to Friday. But we can choose how we approach each day, and how we engage each moment along the way.</div>
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My grandson may not be talking yet, but if he could I’m sure he’d say something along the lines of the Psalmist’s words in the following translation of the well-known “This is the day the Lord has made!” passage (Psalm 118:21-25).</div>
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Thank you (God) for responding to me;<br />you’ve truly become my salvation!<br />The stone the masons discarded as flawed<br />is now the capstone!<br />This is God’s work.<br />We rub our eyes—we can hardly believe it!<br />This is the very day God acted—<br />let’s celebrate and be festive!<br />Salvation now, God. Salvation now!<br />Oh yes, God—a free and full life!</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/10789_927914375492_386769705_n.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #26ade4; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="10789_927914375492_386769705_n" class="alignright wp-image-9648" height="180" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/10789_927914375492_386769705_n.jpg?w=180&h=180" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="180" /></a>Our opportunity is to respond with enthusiasm, with passion, and with joy. Our opportunity is to live – every day – like we mean it! Because God most certainly meant it when God created us.</div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Peace and promise -</em></strong> <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">DEREK</strong></em></div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721270362873334495.post-91794467411941427772013-05-18T17:35:00.000-07:002013-05-18T17:35:00.973-07:00O When the Saints Go Marching In<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 22px;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/photo_2.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #26ade4; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="photo from Jayne/Steve Parker" class="size-medium wp-image-10252" height="225" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/photo_2.jpg?w=300&h=225" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 5px; max-width: 98%;" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
photo from Jayne/Steve Parker</div>
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If you missed this afternoon’s <a href="http://www.derekmaul.wordpress.com/">“Celebration of Life”</a> memorial service for our great friend Roy Crenshaw, then you missed an opportunity not only to pay tribute to an extraordinary human being, but to learn something vitally important about what it means to walk with God.</div>
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I’ve already written a detailed post about Roy’s life (<a href="http://derekmaul.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/tribute-to-a-life-well-lived-rest-in-peace-roy-crenshaw/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #26ade4; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Tribute to a Life Well-Lived (Rest in Peace, Roy Crenshaw)">Tribute to A Life Well-Lived</a>), so this weekend I simply want to draw attention to his testimony.</div>
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Rebekah put it well when she said that Roy’s testimony was a story he lived on a day-to-day basis. Some people stand up and share a five-minute, classic, “How I got saved” testimony, but one of the most eloquent, compelling witnesses to Jesus I’ve ever seen was the way that Roy Crenshaw told the truth about Gospel of Love, simply by being.</div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">CAN I GET A WITNESS?</strong> Roy was a “Larger than Life” man who lived faith out loud. Roy constantly challenged the darkness by being the light, and he followed Jesus with such integrity that those privileged to know him could no more argue against the truth of the Gospel than they could argue against the fact of the sun having first been introduced to the moon.</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/182968_10201411082382325_556058358_n.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #26ade4; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="image by Kelly Poirson" class=" wp-image-10238 " height="240" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/182968_10201411082382325_556058358_n.jpg?w=240&h=240" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 5px; max-width: 98%;" width="240" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
image by Kelly Poirson</div>
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That’s my definition of a saint: a person who goes out and lives their faith while other people are arguing about it. So it was more than fitting that – after Rebekah offered the benediction – we ended with a lively rendition of “<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">O when the saints come marching in.</em>” Mark started on the piano, Don jumped in immediately with his trombone, I added a simple progression of chords on my guitar, and Dave danced all over the music with blues edged New Orleans trumpet that sounded like it came from the angel Gabriel himself.</div>
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As we finished the first verse, the extended Crenshaw family (plus Rebekah) all fished colorful umbrellas and parasols from beneath the pews, and commenced to <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">promenade</em> around the front of the church and down the center aisle for the recessional. We must have played at least six to eight repeats, and the arrangement grew more festive every time.</div>
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<a href="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/photo.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #26ade4; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="photo" class="size-medium wp-image-10237" height="300" src="http://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/photo.jpg?w=225&h=300" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 5px; max-width: 98%;" width="225" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
Pic by Julie Hellman</div>
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And when I say “promenade” I mean shimmy, and dance, and sway, and wobble a little bit, and ripple, and spin those umbrellas, and occasionally glide sideways, and circle, and do a bit of a jig, and hold out one leg, contemplating the foot for a moment before placing it on the ground again. It was a <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Coming Home of A Saint</em> kind of a <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">shimmy</em> post-benediction move-up-the-aisle rendition of “O When the saints come marching in.”</div>
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And another fine saint went marching home.</div>
Derek Maulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758330108721667313noreply@blogger.com0