January 2011
4 posts
Adult Christianity
Many people are still living in a first-stage “beat up on myself” mode, as if this is supposed to please God. Unfortunately when you hate or fear yourself, you usually do the same to others—wives, husbands, family, coworkers, and neighbors.
In the second half of our spiritual lives, we do not need to prove, assert, or punish ourselves. We can freely and lovingly say “I am who I am.” Of...
My "Breakthrough" Story - Brad Hill
“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are…no more…no less. That’s when you’re the proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.” - Jesus
The veneer was shiny…”religiousy”…certainty. The truth was wounded…searching…lost. In a word….stuck.
I made the choice, through much...
November 2010
1 post
WatchJon Stewart from his Rally to Restore Sanity last Saturday.
October 2010
3 posts
God in our humanity
Religions separate us, by their very nature. Spirituality unites us. That’s the key, and if spirituality is not about humanity, it’s not spiritual. I am a practicing Catholic. I love the faith. I’m not nuts about the institution, but the faith is mine, everywhere I go in the world. The belief that God became human — that’s genius, man. And that God would choose to...
Unwritten
Our moods change constantly and thus our ideas about the past change with them. As for the future, it remains unwritten. Anything can happen, and often we are wrong. The best we can do with the future is prepare and savor the possibilities of what can be done in the present. Only in the present can we be liberated to do whatever it is we want. It’s a razor-thin moment when we are truly free. When...
September 2010
4 posts
“It’s for freedom, that God has set us free! Never again let anyone put a...”
– Galatians 5:1
Freedom
Freedom is one of the main courses on the God-menu. God likes freedom…he loves it…and He frees us…not because of some alternative agenda…not because He’s got “big plans”…but because…simply….he loves freedom. Real freedom. Not the tame placebo that passes for real life…but the real thing…the “alive” thing…the...
Welcome to the new AgapeCommunities.org!
You’ve likely noticed the website being down the past few weeks. We thought we would take it in for a tune up…and decided to get a new car! Lots of stuff…videos…quotes…blogs. We’ve got many ideas on the menu in the coming months. If you have any videos, thoughts, links…anything that gives you life and you would like to pass on…send it our way.
August 2010
23 posts
“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no...”
– Matthew 5:5 (from The Message) - Jesus
“Our lifelong nostalgia, our longing to be reunited with something in the...”
– C.S.Lewis
Watch“Sunday’s Coming”
The Story Behind the Story →
Baxter Kruger on the Story behind ‘The Shack’
Valued
All people want to know and be known, to belong and to be considered worthy of welcome, to speak and to be considered worthy of being spoken to. A sense of worth slips away from the world’s refugees placed in desolate camps far from their homes. It fails to develop when pornographers and human traffickers prey upon young children. Gifted young people lose confidence in their value when...
Do I allow hate or mean-spiritness to control my... →
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all
the barriers...”
– Jalal ad-Din Rumi
“The small mind cannot see Great Things because the two are on two different...”
– Richard Rohr
“There is no fear in love”
– -1 John 4
We all know what fear is…but it’s what it does…or keeps us from doing…or from being…or from discovering that is the chasm between being who we really are and settling for the emptiness of someone else’s expectations. Turns out, the size 9’s don’t fit after all.
Jim Wallis loves his enemies →
Via Don Miller
“Pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly. And...”
– from “The Shack” by William Young
Dave Lingenfelter’s great song “Free...
The Problem with Black and White Thinking →
Don Miller on black and white thinking; the problems with doing it, and how to train yourself to avoid it.
Do you feel safe with God?
After the first levels of enlargement, connection or union, and some degree of emancipation, mystical experiences lead to a kind of foundational optimism emerging. We would usually call it hope. You wonder where it comes from, especially in the middle of all these terrible things that are happening in the world. Hope is not logical, but a participation in the very life of God (just like faith and...
July 2010
3 posts
William Paul Young speaking at Mariner's Church →
Really really great stuff from the writer of “The Shack”. Particularly him sharing his story. Enjoy.
“We do not think ourselves into new ways of living. We live ourselves into new...”
– Richard Rohr
June 2010
9 posts
WatchJim Wallis interview on the Daily Show
Boxes
We all have boxes. Boxes of God. Boxes of life. Boxes of how relationships are supposed to work. Boxes of how men are supposed to be. How women are supposed to be. I had a pretty defined box of God. I could explain everything in that box. It was working. Everything’s fine until something happens outside of the box that doesn’t fit. The friction builds. Maybe it’s a conversation with an old friend....
“I don’t believe in God.”
“It’s ok, God believes in you.”
– Count of Monte Cristo
Do you want to get well?
Jesus encounters a man at the pool of Bethesda. The story goes that once a year at the pool the water is stirred and the first person in is healed of fill in the blank ailment. This man is crippled. He’s been sitting at the side of the pool for many years. Jesus asks him, what initially seems to be an absurd question. “Do you want to get well?” The guy has been there for years, waiting to be the...
“We never evaluate the risk of doing nothing.”
Loved by Love
It sounds so simple to say “I am loved by Love”. It can seem trite. But it’s a treasure that has to be taken to the depths of our abyss. To the lies of our darkness. To the pain and unfinished business of our lives. To the sunken ships that we’ve tried to convince ourselves are inconsequential and don’t affect us. That’s where light shines brightest. That’s where friction leads. That’s where love...
What kind of God?
I spent a lot of energy and time building a stronger box and a more superficial life. It was both hilarious and shocking when I began to realize that it’s not working. I had a very exclusive view of God. Frankly, God was someone that loved me because He had too but really didn’t like me…which was a miserable hiding experience. The worst thing you can have on that front is a moody bipolar God....
May 2010
5 posts
Revealing
“What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out. The Life-Light was the real thing: Every person entering Life he brings into Light.
He came to his own people but they didn’t want him. But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, He made...
