new skin

and the summer draws to a close.

and we begin to think of fall . . . 

of back to school

of pumpkins

of apples

of the rhythm of life that changes in major and minor ways

and of life group.

looking forward to another refreshing year of learning and growing.

looking forward to changing the world together.

looking forward to community.

looking forward to growing closer to God {and each other}.

Tuesday With Tozer 2

"The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing. These are the "poor in spirit."" Tozer, The Pursuit of God. p.23.

I'm not buying it. Tozer can be off the chain at times and he's all kinds of quotable. But, Rob Bell's explanation seems more consistent with the literal and historical context of Matthew 5:3. RB breaks it down more literally. Poor in spirit is not now nor was it then a desirable condition. Jesus makes this statement that turns the religious dogma of his day on its ear i.e. you see that beggar - he's blessed -- heaven's waiting for him. Less metaphor, more God is for everybody.

Having a humble and contrite spirit (Isaiah 57:15; James 4:10) is different than being completely void of spirit. Humility does not equate emptiness. Tozer's thesis contradicts 3 John 2 where John parallels prosperous health with a prosperous soul. Most importantly Jesus states (or affirms) that the greatest commandment is to "love the the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind" (Mt. 22:37. Luke 10:27 and Mark 12:30 add "strength"). So complete soul deprivation would inherently place you at a point where you could not honor the greatest commandment. Or in the alternative, Tozer's argument knocks at the door of entire sanctification which I'm also not buying because of Romans chapter 3 and the rest of, you know, the Bible.

As far as the rooting out the sense of possessing from your heart - yeah I'm down with that Big Toze. "Poor in spirit" being a goal just doesn't jive for me. The poor in spirit being blessed and having heaven available to them is more of a Jesus thing. When leaders use words like abnegation and repudiation, the tendency is to readily accept what the leader promotes. Is it grace? Is it peace? Is it accessible? AWT's position advocates a barrier; another human imposed obstacle, presumably inadvertant in its design, that makes you feel like you're not good enough. An articulate, impressively written standard to which you cannot attain. You are good enough. The beggar is good enough.

May you want not for the possessions of this world. May you love the Lord your God with all your soul. And may you always question the standards set forth by men that lead you to a conclusion that you have failed.

Tuesday With Tozer 1

"So the life of man upon the earth is a life away from the Presence, wrenched loose from that "blissful center" which is our right and proper dwelling place, our first estate which we kept not, the loss of which is the cause of our unceasing restlessness." (Tozer. The Pursuit of God, pp. 32-33).

Are you restless? Unsettled? Searching? Do you feel like something is missing?

Tozer posits that the source of your restlessness emanates from the fact that ya ain't where ya oughtta be. Or so I paraphrase. If you are indeed designed to live in God's presence, but a broken world prohibits you from so doing, this would explain that "something's missing" feeling that we all get periodically.

Long, long ago in the original Sunday School spectacular we explored a similar theory through the life of Jonah. One (of many) conclusions we reached was that you're either running from God or to God - there is no hiding -- no static lack of movement. Regardless of your directional choice, God is there. Waiting. Aching for restoration with you. Working in you to get your attention back to where you were designed to be. In His presence. Home.

Tozer goes on to say that, "[t]he world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God, and the Church is famishing for want of his presence." (Id. at 35). Harsh A-dub. Harsh. The prescription for this malady is a spiritual renewal - a concious effort to draw in communion with our creator. We may be separate from His physical manifestation. We may be far East of Eden. Our citizenship may be somewhere else. But, we can consistently invite the Presence to move and work in our lives. Less running from and more running to. Perhaps that restlessness will wane.

May you commune with the Presence. May you sprint toward the blissful center. And may you be filled with the peace of a God who aches to restore your relationship with Him.

Monday Message: Becoming an Orange Parent

When you combine the light from a faith community (yellow) with the heart of a caring family (red), you exponentially expand your potential to make a difference in the life of a child.  These two combined influences will make a greater impact than either influence alone.

Parenting Beyond Your Capacity, Page 19. 

Greetings LoweLifes!  We hope and pray that you're thinking all things Orange this week as we dive into the book Parenting Beyond Your Capacity by Reggie Joiner and Carey Nieuwhof.  If you haven't picked up your book yet, please do so ASAP.  While you'll definitely have something to add to the conversation and we don't give pop quizzes, reading along will help you immensely in Thursday night's discussion of chapters 1 & 2.  Plus it's really good stuff!  Let us know if you have difficulties finding a copy.

Thanks to everyone who so effortlessly and gracefully pitched in this weekend to help the Oak Meadows Community.  I do know that the water has gone back off today (as planned).  We're keeping a close eye on things so that if we need to step in and help again we can.

Here are a few other housekeeping notes for this week:

• The Garrett Family is up on the rotation this week.

• Bring It In: College Care Packages.  Clean out your cabinets now and find anything yummy to toss in a College Care Package.  Granola bars, candy, pencils, notepads, cereal, ramen, highlighters, notecards . . . whatever might brighten a college student's day.  We're doing two weeks of packages because of the great number of students we get to encourage this year.  Luckily, there are more of us, too.

• We're headed to the Apple Works on this Saturday September 11th.  We'll plan on meeting around 1:30 PM for some Apple-y good fun!  Let us know on Thursday if you need directions.  Bring your camera and if you'd like, $ for the train and feeding the animals.  :)

• If you haven't already, please fill out the LoweLife Info Form so that I can finish the directory to distribute this week.

• Listen to Wiffle Guitar!  Um, there just might be a prize involved.  :)  Plus it's an excellent message about doing exactly what God designed you to do.  If you weren't there, I have your CD.  Be sure to ask for it as I often get confused.

Have a great week LoweLifes!  We are so thankful for each and everyone of you.  It's good to be in community with you.

love God. love people. show up.

ladies and gentlmen, mark your calendars . . .

These people are excited about a new
LoweLife year.
Are you?

We've been spending some time today, gearing up for another awesome year all things LoweLife.  If you haven't looked at the calendar in the left hand sidebar, you're going to want to do that soon!  I'll be working over the next week or two to fill in links with explanations for each event (and of course there will be other events like Colts games/game nights/etc. that will be filled in as we go along).  But for the most part, these will be the dates you don't want to miss!

It's going to be a great year.  Can't wait to get it started!
cLowe

Coming to a Thursday Night Soon . . .

Pick up your book soon if you haven't already!



Parenting Beyond Your Capacity by Reggie Joiner and Carey Nieuwhof Book Trailer from cosproductions on Vimeo.

hello, anyone out there.

{blowing off the dust and cobwebs}

Hello, is this thing on?

{tap, tap, tap}

Everybody still doing ok?

{testing . . . 1, 2, 3}

Summer vacations lots of fun?

{mic check, miggity mic check}

Kids have fun at camp?

{Bueller, Bueller, Bueller}

We miss you.

{long awkward pause of silence}

LL4L