Author: Fred Shope

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Weekend Wanderings

This has been an interesting week. It snowed here in the sunny South ( about 4-5 inches), and we were off school for three days. On Thursday we had a 3 hour delay, and Friday was a teacher work day. It was nice being off, but we will have to make up the days, so some of the regular holidays will be spent in class. Oh well.

Here is the good stuff:
Kansas Bob quotes Martin Luther King, Jr.
Fun stuff from the Merry Monk.
This might make you a bit uncomfortable.

Alan Knox asks good questions about the local church in Scripture.
Don’t try this at home. Or anywhere else.
Scot McKnight on Christian art.
Jeff Dunn rants.
Chaplain Mike has a series titled, “Why Jesus?” Part 1 is here.
I don’t know. This seems like just more of the same old same old (HT: iMonk).
David Fitch on leadership.
J.R. Daniel Kirk on deacons (HT: Scot McKnight).
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World Vision Wednesday

It’s been a year since a major earthquake devastated an already struggling Haiti. A lot has been accomplished, but there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done. World Vision is on of the agencies that have been working in Haiti since the earthquake struck. For an update on their efforts go here.

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Giving Up and Gaining

In A Renegade’s Guide to God, David Foster tells a story of a wealthy man who built a large art collection with his son. The son goes off to war and is killed. Later a soldier shows up at the man’s door with a portrait that he had painted of the man’s son, saying that the son had saved his life. The portrait is given an honored place in the man’s art collection.

The wealthy man dies and his entire estate is put up for auction. The first item is the portrait of the son. The crowd is waiting for the “good stuff” i.e. the Picassos, Rembrandts, and other great works. No one bids on the portrait. Finally a man bids ten dollars. It is the one who painted it and ten dollars is all he has to give. Because no one else bids he is the highest bidder. The auctioneer then says that the auction is closed. There was a clause in the will that states that the son’s portrait was to be the only thing auctioned and that whoever bought the picture would get the entire estate. So the soldier, who gave everything he had to get the son’s picture, also got everything else.

That’s what being a Christian is all about. You give up everything you have to “get the Son”, and you get everything else that the Father has. It’s all about a relationship with Jesus. It’s not about a bunch of rules, how you dress, what kind of Bible you carry, how you vote, what kind of music you listen to, whether you smoke or drink, or any other external things. It’s about whether you realize that you can not save yourself and that Jesus Christ loves you and has died for you so you don’t have to die. It’s about having a relationship of love with the Creator. It’s about following Jesus and letting his Spirit guide you and form you into his image.

Jesus said he came to give us a life that is abundant and full. That’s the way Christians should be. Are we?

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A Good Book

I just finished reading Play Their Hearts Out by George Dohrmann. The book chronicles the experiences of AAU basketball players. The author was given unrestricted access to a team that began as a group of middle school players and documents the ups and downs of the young men as they go through the years, until their high school careers are finished.

Dohrmann writes about the good, the bad, and the ugly in the system of grassroots basketball. He tells of the influence of the shoe companies, the coaches who care about developing players, the coaches who use the players for their own ends, and the college programs who use the grassroots coaches to steer players their way. He pulls no punches when it comes to telling the story, while also being fair to those involved.
If you’re a basketball fan, a casual observer, or if you’re concerned with how young people are sometimes treated by adults, you might be interested in this book
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Weekend Wanderings

My schedule has been a lot more busy the last couple of months. It’s the middle of basketball season, and we have a game every Friday. I had been pushing to post TGIF every Friday, and up until a couple of weeks ago, I was successful. Of course, that sometimes meant finishing the post just before midnight on Friday. That was getting to be a bit much, so I decided to replace TGIF with Weekend Wanderings. It may appear on a Friday, it may show up on a Saturday, it may even surface on Sunday. Sometime during the weekend, I will share links to some of the best blog posts I have read through the week.

Without further ado, here are the very first Weekend Wanderings links:
Dan Edelen asks if anyone still cares.
Al wonders about the ideal.
Donald Miller is in the garden.
Chaplain Mike on bad theology.
Lisa Dye has great expectations.
Jake Belder quotes Jaroslav Pelikan. Short, but so profound.
Scot McKnight has a series titled, “Converting our Imaginations.” Part 1 is here.
Scot also has a series titled, “Fully Alive.” Part 1.
Bill Kinnon wants more disciples.
It’s supposed to snow here in the sunny South on Monday. We’ll see. Have a great day gathering with the church tomorrow.
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TGIF… Sort of

TGIF has not died, it’s just been resting the last couple of weeks. Tomorrow, TGIF will show up under a different name. Until then…

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World Vision Wednesday

Today, more than 24,000 children under the age of 5 will die from preventable diseases. There are already simple, low-cost ways to stop these killers. To learn more, visit here.

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Reflections on the New Year

I haven’t blogged in almost two weeks. Due to traveling and other Christmas activities, my time on the computer was not as regular as it usually is. I just got caught up in my blog reading yesterday. I have had some time to reflect on the year that has past, and also to look ahead to the new one.


I’ve heard it said that the only constant in life is change. That has certainly been true in the past year. My job responsibilities changed, and I’m now working on a more individual basis with a few students. I enjoy it more than what I was doing, and I feel like I’m actually helping them. Jan left her job at the assisted living facility, and is teaching part time and cooking for a retreat center part time. Our church has not grown this year, in fact it has actually shrunk. That’s a good thing though. We made the decision to try and be open to each other and learn to live life with each other. It’s been an interesting experience, and I think we’ve grown closer as a community and have experienced a measure of healing and freedom. It will be interesting to see what the Father will do in us in 2011. God has been teaching me how to go through my day-to-day being aware of his presence, and focus on listening and doing what he tells me to do. I am learning, although there are times when what I think is the voice of God is just my addled brain talking.

I’m looking forward to this year. I’m sure it will bring changes, some positive, some not so much. I don’t make resolutions, mainly because I never keep them. 🙂 I do have certain things I want to see happen. You can call them goals if you want. I want to live in awareness of God’s presence more each day and hear his voice. I want the courage to take risks when the Spirit directs me. I want to love God and others with abandon, not worrying about what people may think. I want to be a blessing to my faith community, and to others that I come in contact with. I want to be a better husband, loving Jan more as Christ loved the Church. I want to be a better father to my adult children, letting them see Jesus.

I know the road ahead will take some turns. There will be some bumps, and there will be times when I will mess up. The one thing I know for certain is that my relationship with my Father doesn’t hinge on how many resolutions I make and keep, on how well I perform certain spiritual duties, or on anything that I do. Abba loves me, and there is nothing I can do that will change that in any way. I can be the prodigal, the elder brother, or something in between, and God still loves me with a reckless, graceful love. That is why I look forward to the year ahead.

You may make resolutions at the start of a new year, or you may not. You may set goals, and plan how to reach those goals. That’s fine. Just remember that some goals will be met, but others will not be realized. Some resolutions will be shelved until next year. Remember also, that your Father loves you and will continue to love you the same no matter whether you keep all your resolutions or not. You are free, free to make resolutions and then break them, free to set goals and then not meet them.
Jesus came to give us a full, abundant life. So, live. Be free. Abba loves you.
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A Poem for Christmas

People rushing to and fro
Traffic steadily building

Black Friday is going to save us all
Buy, buy, buy

Can’t afford it? No matter
Take a year to pay the bill

It’s your patriotic duty
Spend, spend, spend

What are we thinking?
We’re missing something here

Do we have a clue?
Do we know what Christmas means?

The prophets knew
They predicted it

The angels knew
They sang about it

The shepherds and the wise men knew
They came and worshipped

Herod knew
He tried to have this rival killed

Christmas is a celebration becauseThe King has come
Yet we enthrone our own comfort

Worshipping the golden calf of Wall Street
We lust after power
Political, economic, social

We have forgotten something
We have forgotten this

The King has come
All the kingdoms on earth are His

The King has come
We are His

The King has come
Let us celebrate Him!

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Mary’s Song

This is reposted from a couple of years ago:

The other day, I was thinking about the song of Mary in Luke 1. It was actually a pretty subversive thing to say in that day. I was wondering what Mary’s song would sound like in the 21st Century.

Who would be the rulers in today’s world? Who would be the proud? Who are the rich? Who are the humble and the hungry?

What in our consumer driven culture could the song speak to? What would Mary have to say to the Church?

What does it mean today that the King has come and is coming again? What would happen if those of us who say we follow this King lived as if we really did?

Just some questions rolling around in my head.

Any thoughts?