Book Review w/ J. Curtis | Brother Lawrence & God’s Presence

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Title: The Practice of the Presence of God and The Spiritual Maxims
Author: Brother Lawrence
Publisher: Digireads
Year: 2016
My Genre Category: Christian Living/Disciple

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Synopsis (5/5)

Certainly, the Monastic life is not for most people! Brother Lawrence also had struggles with this life, and especially the job he had – managing the kitchen and making meals! However, he made the most of the opportunity and simply focused on maintaining, as much as he could, an intentional gaze on the presence of God with him. In this work, he tried to explain his ups and downs in this process and share why he thought this the utmost goal of all believers, at all times. There certainly were aspects of the work where I struggled, for various reasons, however, the overall goal as Brother Lawrence presents it – focusing on God – is certainly an area where I have deficiencies (to put it nicely). In that regard, it was an important book to read.

Content/Writing (3/5)

There were times when I had difficulty in following Brother Lawrence’s thought. However, I am not certain if it was a lack of writing skills or a deficiency in intelligence on my part that made it difficult. Probably a combination of both. As such, I’m putting this in the middle of the road. Overall, however, the message is conveyed well and you can certainly takeaway the most valuable pieces. Lastly, hearing some of this struggles that he walked through I found encouraging in this current stage of my life.

Design/Font/In Hand (2/5)

This has probably been one of the least enjoyable books I have interacted with in a while. I do really like the cover design, but the layout, font, etc. was not too enjoyable to me. To be fair, it wasn’t really designed to be either. I do think the publisher did what they set out to do which was to make a simple and cheaper version easily accessible. There is much in that regard that I appreciate. Also, being overly simplistic is probably a great choice for a Monastic read! Nonetheless, if left me wanting for more.

Impact (4/5)

I have really been going through some challenges lately! It’s been tough, but also rewarding in how it is shaping me – I sincerely hope! – to be more like Christ. With this said, I would say this had a good impact on me. I was handed this book a few years ago, and I’m grateful I got around to it in this season. Focusing on the presence of God and living by faith certainly have been two important themes in my life over the last few years, but in particular, this last year.

Recommend (4/5)

For Christians, I would say this could be a great read. What’s nice is it has some challenging questions and probes well into how we are, and perhaps should be, living. It’s also a short read that you can plow through in a relatively quickly. For me, I am not ready to consider it a necessary read, but it is certainly a good perspective to wrestle with. I’m curious to see – if I read it again down the road – if my perspective on that changes.

Quotes

“That this trouble of mind had lasted four years; during which time he had suffered much. But that at last he had seen that this trouble arose from want of faith; and that since then he had passed his life in perfect liberty and continual joy. That he had placed his sins betwixt him and God, as it were, to tell Him that he did not deserve His favors, but that God still continued to bestow them in abundance.” p. 8

Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God and The Spiritual Maxims (Digireads, 2016), 8.

“I say again, let us enter into ourselves. The time presses, there is no room for delay: out souls are at stake. I believe you have take such effectual measures that you will not be surprised. I commend you for it; it is the one thing necessary. We must, nevertheless, always work at it, because not to advance in the spiritual life is to go back. But those who have the gale of the Holy Spirit go forward even in sleep. If the vessel of our soul is still tossed with winds and storms, let us awake the Lord, who reposes in it, and He will quickly calm the sea.”

Lawrence, 20.

“He often sends diseases of the body to cure those of the soul. Comfort yourself with the sovereign Physician both of the soul and body.”

Lawrence, 25.

Overview (3.6/5)

I would certainly recommend this book to Christians seeking to deepen their walk with God, but again wouldn’t consider a necessary read for me just yet. However, it does have some great nuggets in it. Hopefully I can come back to this one in a few years and see how it has grown on me.

Blessings!

© J. Curtis, 2022

Project 5782 | Derailed!

Well, clearly my plan for the daily writing – Project 5782 – has been utterly derailed!

My wife and I got sick for a couple of weeks…which caused me to already get behind…

Then I started a new, self-employed job…which takes up a lot of time…

Then we had Baby #4…

Yeah, no time for writing basically! lol

I apologize for those who had been following.

There is new news though…

I am starting up a new page! I will still post to this one every now and again and primarily focus on book reviews for the time being. However, for the new page, I will be starting a semi-monthly posting relating exclusively to professional development – with a spiritual lens, of course.

So, if you find interest in that, please be on the lookout for that launching soon!

As always, blessings to you and yours!

GKC: On Reading — Following A Star

THE highest use of the great masters of literature is not literary; it is apart from their superb style and even from their emotional inspiration. The first use of good literature is that it prevents a man from being merely modern. To be merely modern is to condemn oneself to an ultimate narrowness; just as […]

GKC: On Reading — Following A Star

What a Reading List!

Douglass Wilson, Christian apologist, author, speaker, educator, podcaster, pastor, etc., is certainly been known to stir the pot from time to time. He is not always appreciated for his perspectives, to say the least.

https://dougwils.com/

However, he has had a positive impact on my thinking in certain areas and there have been many things that he has taught that have surely been a blessing to me and helped me along the way.

One area he focuses on that I really appreciate is on good, solid education – both for oneself and as a parent teaching their children. He puts a lot of emphasis on reading, learning and growing. As such, I knew he was an avid reader, but I just recently ran across his reading list and, wowsers!

Not only is is quite extensive, which I expected, what really messed me up is how thoroughly documented it is! It is just shy of 3,000 titles and spans 41 years!

Feel free to check it out here: https://dougwils.com/book-log#t2020

I have some work to do!

Hope your reading is going well!

Book Quotes | 13 August 2020

Okay, so I have been reading a lot lately – well, a lot for a husband and father of three who works way too much…so probably not that much, but for me it’s been much more than recent history… Not that we have that cleared up, this is probably going to be pretty extensive, so here we go:

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Up From Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington

Edition I am reading | image taken from: http://www.randomhousebooks.com/books/185981/

Of my father I know even less than of my mother. I do not even know his name. I have heard reports to the effect that he was a white man who lived on one of the near-by plantations. Whoever he was, I never heard of his taking the least interest in me or providing in any way for my rearing. But I do not find especial fault with him. He was simply another unfortunate victim of the institution which the Nation unhappily had engrafted upon it at that time.

Washington, Booker T., Up From Slavery: An Autobiography, New York, NY: Modern Library, Random House 1999, pg. 4 [fyi, this was originally published in 1901]

So far as I can now recall, the first knowledge that I got of the fact that we were slaves, and that freedom of the slaves was being discussed, was early one morning before day, when I was awakened by my mother kneeling over her children and fervently praying that Lincoln and his armies might be successful, and that one day she and her children might be free. In this connection I have never been able to understand how the slaves throughout the South, completely ignorant as were the masses so far as books or newspapers were concerned, were able to keep themselves so accurately and completely informed about the great National questions that were agitating the country. From the time that Garrison, Lovejoy, and others began to agitate for freedom, the slaves throughout the South kept in close touch with the progress of the movement. Though I was a mere child during the preparation for the Civil War and during the war itself, I now recall the many late-at-night whispered discussions that I heard my mother and the other slaves on the plantation indulge in. These discussions showed that they understood the situation, and that they kept themselves informed of events by what was termed the ‘grape-vine’ telegraph.

Ibid, pgs. 6-7

One may get the idea, from what I have said, that there was bitter feeling toward the white people on the part of my race, because of the fact that most of the white population was away fighting in a war which would result in keeping Negro in slavery if the South was successful. In the case of the slaves on our place this was not true, and it was not true of any large portion of the slave population in the South where the Negro was treated with anything like decency. … I know of a case on a large plantation in the South in which a young white man, the son of the former owner of the estate, has become so reduced in purse and self-control by reason of drink that he is a pitiable creature; and yet, notwithstanding the poverty of the coloured people themselves on this plantation, they have for years supplied this young white man with the necessities of life. One sends him a little coffee or sugar, another a little meat, and so on.

Ibid, pgs. 10-11

Then, when we rid ourselves of prejudice, or racial feeling, and look facts in the face, we must acknowledge that, notwithstanding the cruelty and moral wrong of slavery, the ten million Negroes inhabiting this country, who themselves or whose ancestors went through the school of American slavery, are in a stronger and more hopeful condition, materially, intellectually, morally, and religiously, than is true of an equal number of black people in any other portion of the globe. This is so to such an extent that Negroes in this country, who themselves or whose forefathers went through the school of slavery, are constantly returning to Africa as missionaries to enlighten those who remained in the fatherland. This I say, not to justify slavery – on the other hand, I condemn it as an institution, as we all know that in America it was established for selfish and financial reasons, and not from a missionary motive – but to call attention to a fact, and to show how Providence so often uses men and institutions to accomplish a purpose.

Ibid, pg. 12

And that’s just in the first chapter of this amazing book…

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Jesus Among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message by Ravi Zacharias

from: https://harpercollins-christian.imgix.net/covers/9780849943270.jpg?auto=format&w=135

All-inclusive philosophies can only come at the cost of truth. And no religion denies its core beliefs. Within such systemic relativism …

Zacharias, Ravi, Jesus Among Other Gods, Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2000, pg. 7

Unsuspecting people make a fatal mistake when they give their allegiance to a system of thought by focusing on its benefits while they ignore its systemic contradictions. The entire life of anyone making prophetic or divine claims must be observed in concert with the teaching offered. Numerous historical and philosophical matters come into play when one seriously evaluates such claims.

Ibid, pg. 55

You see, that is the way God has designed us. One of the most startling things about life is that it does not start with reason and end with faith. It starts in childhood with faith and is sustained either by reasoning through that faith or by blindly leaving the reason for faith unaddressed. The child’s mind has a very limited capacity to inform if of the reason for its trust. But whether she nestles on her mother’s shoulder, nurses at her mother’s breast, or runs into her father’s arms, she does so because of an implicit trust that those shoulders will bear her, that her food will sustain her, and that those arms will hold her. If over time that trust is tested, it will be the character of the parent that will either prove that trust wise or foolish. Faith is not bereft of reason.

Ibid, pg. 60

Do you see what has happened? The skeptic started by presenting a long list of horrific things, saying, ‘These are immoral, therefore there is no God.’ But to raise these issues as moral issues is to assume a state of affairs that evolution cannot afford. There is just no way to arrive at a morally compelling ought, given the assumption of naturalism. What then does the skeptic do? He denies objective moral values because to accept such a reality would be to allow for the possibility of God’s existence. He concludes then that there really isn’t such a thing as evil after all.

Ibid, pg. 114

When evil justifies itself by posturing as morality, God becomes the devil and the devil, God. That exchange makes one impervious to reason.

Ibid, pg. 154

That last quote is a great description of American culture currently…

I have been reading some other things too, but this will suffice for now. More to come, but this is waxing long enough. Blessings on your readings.

What do you think?! Do any of these quotes strike a chord with you? Let me know in the comments!

7-Word Story | Misleading Media

Precariously pitiful ponderings permeate public’s poisonous perception.

Unwrinkled Wooden Socks

It’s the mid 1960s in the United States of America.

Racial and social upheaval and renewal is swirling around as the country attempts to mend some of its tattered and poorly sewn founding fabric. The fight for equality and access. The fight for justice to be led by righteousness instead of prejudice. Marches, protests, beatings, arrests, speeches, sacrifices, forging relationships, courageous acts, and death collide on streets all around the nation.

 

Picture used from this article.

 

While dreams and revolutions are being whispered throughout every corner of the country, schools are beginning to integrate. As a result sports are taking on new challenges and becoming better. It’s a hard fought road that took time to pave. However, thanks to some forward and godly individuals, the process of integration in basketball started earlier. The first time collegiate post-season basketball was integrated was during the 1947-1948 season. It was integrated by the Indiana State Teacher’s College, which would become Indiana State University (that little school Larry Bird went to). Who was the coach? John Wooden.

 

 

Going forward again to the mid-1960s, John Wooden is now the coach at a school by the name of UCLA. In coaching at this school for twelve years, he won ten national championships and seven of these were in a row. [By the way, UCLA has the most National Championships of any other school with 11; yes, Wooden won 10 of their 11!] This streak is unheard of even to this day! Needless to say, he created a basketball powerhouse; a dynasty that caused havoc for the rest of college basketball. A journey that started with humble roots on an Indiana farm is now making thunderous waves in the sports world in the context of tumultuous cultural times.

It’s true in any sport, winning attracts talent as the best players want to be on the best teams. Imagine you were one of these players coming to the campus of UCLA in the mid-1960s. You arrive at the school as one of the best high school players in the country. When you meet your new coach, what’s one of the first things he teaches you about the game? A new unstoppable offensive play? A havoc inducing defensive play? Does he start a conditioning program? No! None of the above. Instead he sits you down and teaches you how to put your socks on! What would you be thinking as one of the best athletes in the country? I know how to do that! Well, this is the type of thing that set Wooden apart as a coach.

Why did he do this? He told his players that it’s simple. If you do not put your socks on correctly, you will end up with blisters. If you get blisters you will not be able to play at your highest level. If you are not able to play at your highest level, the team will not be as successful as it could be. Foundations. The little things.

This post really isn’t about Civil Rights, the 1960s cultural upheavals and renewals, or even basketball. It’s about our habits; the small things that make up our foundation. How are we putting on our socks?

At work these last two days, our team forgot to put air into a hub. Something so simple. Three little seconds of air into a rubber lining of a metal shaft. Outcome? Due to no air holding the rolls in place, they moved on the shaft and it shut down the production line for over two hours! Three seconds = over two hours. The small blisters that pester our production. This story of Wooden came back to my mind when these things were occurring and caused a pause in me.

How am I putting on my socks? My work socks? My husband socks? My father socks? My writing socks? What small habits am I discipling myself with, or ignoring, that will inevitably have an outcome on my production?

 

It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen. – John Wooden

 

I hope you find your socks in good condition today!

Threads of the Divine Nature of Jesus | Week 3 | The High Priest

Saturday! The Sabbath day! A day of rest and worship. The day to refocus your attention on the Most Hight and to evaluate your past week and your priorities. The day to really spend time focusing on the eternal and not temporal.

Yet, we live in the temporal and still have temporal needs. The disciples, spending time walking around with Jesus on the Sabbath, were no different. They got hungry! While walking through a grain field, they took some of the heads of grain and ate them.

 

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

 

The problem with this? They were Sabbath breakers! Or, so said the Pharisees. Jesus chides these leaders and explains that neither he or his disciples broke the Sabbath. They just didn’t abide by the rules set by the Pharisees regarding the Sabbath. These are very different things. Jesus ends this part of the conversation by saying that he is the Lord of the Sabbath. Now, there is much there that speaks to the divine nature of Jesus, but I want to touch on something a bit more subtle.

Here is the passage in view; Matthew 12.1-8:

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3 He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

I find verse three very interesting. Jesus is making the point to these leaders that what the disciples are doing is okay because, well, David broke the rules and ate food he wasn’t supposed to eat, so why can’t the disciples, right?! At least, that’s how it seems to read to us. However, it is highly likely these leaders knew the details of this David story well and caught some of the subtleties of it. Let us go to that story and see what takes place. We find it in 1 Samuel 21.1-6:

Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David, trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” ² And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. ³ Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” ⁴ And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.” ⁵ And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” ⁶ So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.

Did David eat bread that he wasn’t allowed to eat? Yes, he did! However, did he unlawfully go into the Temple and take the bread, breaking God’s holy Laws? No, he did not! He beseeched the priest for bread and the priest granted David the shewbread – the bread that was consecrated only for the priests. David received permission from the one that had lawful access to the bread, took it as a gift and then he ate it. So, what are we seeing with the disciples?

 

Picture used from bcooper

 

We see the disciples being accused of breaking the laws of the Sabbath. We see Jesus standing up in their defense. We see Jesus make a parallel to David, lawfully beseeching a priest for bread and the priest making the decision to grant David bread that he did not have access to.

Jesus, by his actions and then his defense, is declaring, as the Lord of the Sabbath, that he is the priest granting permission to his followers access to what was “not allowed” for them. He granted them legal access to partake. He is the eternal and divine priest. He is the one who was serving when the Father showed Abraham the pattern of the Tabernacle in heaven. As declares Hebrews 6.20, “where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

He is the eternal one! He is the divine one! He grants us legal access to places we dare not tread alone. Indeed, the vail is torn asunder!

May your thoughts abide in Christ on this day. Shabbat Shalom!

 

[Scriptures taken from the ESV]

G.O.S.P.E.L | Spoken Word

For today’s post, I would like to share another video. This is Propaganda with his work “G.O.S.P.E.L.”. I hope you enjoy!

 

MLK2020

I have always been prone to deep thoughts. When I say deep, I don’t mean profound, but all-consuming. I live in my head and mull things over and over again, regardless of the topic. Social issues are no different.

When it comes to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I have really changed my position over the last few years. Growing up, he was one of my favorite historical heroes. In more recent years, as I have grown in my own thinking, particularly in my religious and political ideas, I have grown apart from him to a large degree. I found myself in disagreement with much of his ideology.

 

 

This year, I find myself drawn to a specific area of his life – his life in the public eye. His public life still garners much respect from me. The way he stayed composed under extreme pressure (which may be a contributing factor as to why he didn’t stay as composed under extreme pressure behind closed doors…something I am thinking through), the vision that he held, inspired in others and maintained in the face of opposition and, lastly, the way he articulated himself, even when I disagree, I find compelling and it causes one to pause and think.

 

 

On this day, and the days leading up to this one, I find myself trying to understand why I am drawn to certain people. I am praying about what I am to learn from people God has set in my path, no matter to what degree I agree with them. I am learning to ask – in new ways – what am I supposed to learn from them?

With this in mind, I think what I am supposed to learn this year from this man at this stage in my life:

1. How to be utterly committed to a vision for my life
2. Staying calm and disciplined in the face of opposition
3. Being able to articulate this vision effectively (which means I need to read and write a lot more this year…I don’t know how to make time for this, but I must figure it out!).

The last thing I really appreciate this year in grappling with this day and the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is respecting the action he – and hundreds and thousands of others – took to inspire change. I have done a lot of thinking and talking about heavy topics to form my thoughts…time for action! Just what action needs to be taken…?

 

 

I hope you find yourselves well today. For me, it’s been a day of great confusion, and great clarity.