Daniel Rose: The Pastor Next Door logo Daniel Rose: The Pastor Next Door

Do you agree with Eckhart Tolle here? I am curious what people think about this. Is there always a lesson?

Whenever something negative happens to you, there is a deep lesson concealed within it.
— Eckhart Tolle

I love this place. Every time we come here, I never want to leave. #grateful 📷

I’m so thankful to have been able to share our “happy place” with my mom this week. Dennis and Jeanne, Amy’s folks, are such kind and gracious hosts.

Mom wanted to do one thing for while she was here, to put her toes in the ocean. So we took care of that this afternoon under a beautiful Panama City Beach sky.

To my knowledge Russell never learned that to defeat fear it took perfect love.

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. Bertrand Russell, British philosopher and logician (1872–1970)

A year ago today we experienced what too many parents have experienced over the last number of years. The panicked phone call of our daughter barricaded and hiding in her dorm room as an active shooter rampaged and killed indiscriminately on her campus.

The fear mixed with rage and love is something that I wish on no parent.

The beauty of a mobilized and loving community at home and at her campus is something that I hope everyone gets to experience in their lives at some point.

Out of tragedy an unspeakable grief and undeniable love are somehow intermingled.

Perhaps, this is truly what grace is.

A year later the wounds still bring easy tears and knots in throats. A year later the thankfulness of a daughter spared from an evil hand still overwhelms.

The Mystery of Following

Psalm 110:1-4; Job 19:23-27; 1 Timothy 3:14-16

Photo by Mads Schmidt Rasmussen on Unsplash

I hope to visit you soon, but just in case I’m delayed, I’m writing this >letter so you’ll know how things ought to go in God’s household, this >God-alive church, bastion of truth. This Christian life is a great >mystery, far exceeding our understanding, but some things are clear >enough: *He appeared in a human body, *was proved right by the invisible Spirit, *was seen by angels. *He was proclaimed among all kinds of peoples, *believed in all over the world, taken up into heavenly glory.

I am always and consistently struck by the both-and of Jesus. Both a human and taken up to glory.

As I consider again this great reality of the dual nature of Christ, fully man and fully God, I am left in awe.

What leaves in even greater awe is what the author of 1 Timothy says right before the creedal statement, “some things are clear enough.”

The nature of Christ is clear enough. I think it's because it is grounded in the humanity of Jesus. We don't consider the humanity of Jesus well enough. The reality of him being alive and living in this world is something that we just don't let our minds and hearts consider. We are so deeply caught up in the cosmic Christ, this divine being that does all the miracles and conquered death.

But, the humanity of Jesus is what grounds him in reality. He gets hungry, tired, annoyed, angry, has conflict with family, is accused of being a drunk and a glutton. He has friends who he teases. He gets betrayed.

This Jesus of history and time is the Jesus that I can look at and say to myself, “Yep, I know what he's going through.”

Isn't it interesting that the mystery is the life of following Jesus. The mystery is not Jesus himself.

This makes so much sense if we take the Christian life seriously. If we actually try to live the things of the Sermon on the Mount, we are left wondering if this even possible.

This way of Jesus is a great mystery. There is grace upon grace. The rules are left under the auspices of love. This often leaves us wondering, “what do I do now?” The way of Jesus responds, “what is the way of love? of grace? of mercy?”

So, we are left to ponder afresh the Jesus of time and history and to wade into the mystery of how to follow him.

— Discuss...

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Good morning! May you not miss the forest for the trees today. #MorningBlessing #MorningMug

#Wordle 969 4/6*

🟨🟨⬛🟨⬛ 🟩⬛🟨🟨⬛ 🟩⬛🟩🟩⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

The #OldGal got a 5! I think it’s due to us taking her to a movie and rotting her brain last night.

Whew! This is a quote…

The heart has its reasons which reason knows not of.
— Blaise Pascal

I think I’m going to like not knowing about re-shares and likes. It changes the dynamic for me.