Saturday, June 23, 2007

Thoughts

The way a man thinks dictates his circumstances.

The strong cannot help the weak until the weak understands he needs help.

Thinking for other people is hard, thinking for yourself is harder.

The man who thinks rightly, does justly.

The heart that is pure has a mind that has clean thoughts.

Theoretical thinking is worthless without action.

Philosophy is not helpful if not proven.

Knowledge is useless if righteous living is not pursued.

If a vision does not include the souls of man, it is no vision at all.

A man who does not enjoy work, does not understand the will of the Father.

The man who speaks without earning the right to be heard hurts only himself, the men who let him speak hurt all who listen.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Mike Why haven't you posted any new blogs???

Well, life is busy, and God is good, that's why.

I've realized that life is to be lived and then written about, not spoken of in theoretical contexts. Therefore, our writings shouldn't be about what should be or how things could be better, rather they should be about what has been done or how we are actively trying to improve the world we live in. Too often we write as if we are the final authority on life, scripture, theology, etc. Yet when the truth is known, our lives aren't being lived well, our stewardship of Godly gifts is off the charts corrupt and we judge with our writings in a way that we wouldn't dare judge ourselves.

How can I write about the marketplace if I'm not in it? How can a pastor speak to a church about how they should act at work when the only work he did this week was spend 15 hours too long on a sermon about how you should act at work. What right does someone have to speak with authority on things that they are not and refuse to live out?

If I were to write as an authority on a medical condition you would expect me to be a doctor, one who specializes in that field. So where do we come off as pastors, writers, teachers writing on subject matter that we aren't living out. I'm sick of reading books by men who have never worked an honest day in there life and yet they feel as if they have a grip on the real world. So what, you have a degree from a seminary, you have a PhD, that's great, but if you want to write you better have fruit to back it up not pedigree and papers.

By fruit I don't mean a mega church (see previous mega church blog). By fruit, I mean that your life is raw, dangerous, painful at times, hard, but full of joy, peace, abundance, life. The proof is in the pudding, not in the pages of books.

So Mike why haven't you written in a while? Well, I've been making pudding, not wasting time writing about things I have yet to live.