Wednesday, April 16, 2003

I want to live a life of amazement. Not in the sense that I would produce anything amazing (although I do make a fine quiche), but that I would see God at work and just capture the moment with nothing more than a gasp. The only thing I can compare that kind of feeling to is the few times I've been able to see Phil Keaggy play a live solo concert - just him, an acoustic guitar, and a small rack of low-tech effects. I've met the man, and he's really cool and loves God a lot, but quite honestly, dude is a freak. I watch him play guitar and have no idea where he comes up with that stuff. In talking with him, I know that he feels the same way about it. Truth be told, he really doesn't know much about how to play the guitar. I attended a Q&A session once where a bunch of wannabe guitar players were asking all these questions about where he learned this technique or that - they'd use technical terms like, "Phil, who taught you that harmonic bridge modulated fingerboard fret willy?" He would get a weird look on his face and simply say, "What's that?", not knowing that there was an actual term for some little thing he did to make his guitar sing. In that same session, he admitted that he was just then learning how to read a music sheet (even though he had already been a world class player for 15 years), and really the only reason he was bothering with that is that he was teaching his kid and figured it would set a good example. What gives the man pleasure is to just play, to create something on the fly that he's never done before and probably won't ever do again. That people gawk in amazement is amusing to him.

This morning I'm reflecting on how simple this Jesus life is, and yet so profound and full of mystery. I so often fail to see the simplicity of it, and thus miss out on the mystery of it. I've become so much a product of my culture and training that I approach scripture with a powerless and sterile view - formulas and systems for everything. I have completely missed out on the depth of God when I focus on whether I am spiritually gifted as a prophet or apostle or teacher, when I spend time thinking through forms of worship and structures of church administration. God has done the unexplainable in my life - he's looked at me with the love of a perfect father, and he's given me an amazing gift. To try to formulize this gift and boil it down into a sure-fire, easy to follow, step by step process is to dishonor the gift. My goal in life ought to be to regularly arrive at places of wonder and awe, to have something of God come alive in me and respond by saying, "Woooooow!! Nooooo waaaaaay! That is soooooooo cool! Duuuuude!!! God, I can't believe it - you're awesome. Where do come up with this stuff?!"

posted by Steve at 7:34 AM
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spirit farmer data

I'm Steve Lewis. This used to be my blogging home. My online home is now at SpiritFarmer.com. When this blog was my active online home, I lived in Seattle. Now I live in London, UK. I follow Jesus (poorly most of the time), worship simply, read a lot, watch culture, go to school, listen to music, write, enjoy art, and drink a lot of coffee.
e-mail me: spiritfarmer@gmail.com
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seattle spots

victrola coffee
zoka coffee
university of washington
church of the apostles
quest church
sanctuary church
shoreline vineyard


sites i visit

off the map
theooze
next-wave
metacritic
nt wright



a few of the blogs in the feedreader

tallskinnykiwi
jason evans
joe boyd
kevin rains
alan creech
chris marshall
bill bean
eugene cho
jordon cooper
dwight friesen
john chandler
amy palmer
ryan bolger
rudy carrasco
ryan sharp
sings in the sunshine
rick bennett
scot mcknight
karen ward
alan hirsch
dan kimball
petey crowder



i'm reading it

colossians remixed
africa unchained



i finished reading it - 2007

generation me
jesus and the restoration of israel
god's continent
glocalization
globalizing theology
gustavo gutierrez: essential writings
jesus and the eyewitnesses
garlands of grace
twenty poems to nourish your soul
the black swan
dancing in the streets
made to stick
signs in contemporary culture
hit the bullseye
revolution
the politics of jesus
readings in christian ethics
toward old testament ethics
the kite runner
principles of conduct
velvet elvis
the irresistable revolution
they like jesus, but not the church
the great omission
ishmael
charisma: the gift of grace, and how it has been taken from us
the starfish and the spider
a perfect mess
the world cafe
the new faces of christianity
leaving church
journeying in faith
the creed
creators
transforming mission
metaphors we live by
foolishness to the greeks
personal knowledge



states i've spent time: 2007

washington
texas
british columbia
oregon
california
georgia
oh yeah, denmark, too



i wrote it

managing conflict in the 'new world'
music review: over the rhine
film review: bonhoeffer
music review: fighting jacks
film review: the passion of the christ
how reality tv changes lives
the best tv article you've ever read
corks & caps: a wine lover's story of change
america's idols
random, disorganized thoughts about life after the katrina disaster
missional . . . plain and simple
on becoming post-gnostic



i blogged it

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