ronnie martin

Progress. Move forward but be steadfast. Look to the future, but be rooted to the present. That’s the kind of language we hear a lot as we maneuver through the ins and outs of life and church culture. We are ambitious for many things, including our desire for more ambition, but it’s the object of our ambition that determines whether we are moving toward a future of faith.

I want to be a tree that grows and grows, but I fear that I’m more like the passing clouds that the tree is reaching for. 

The time change is SLAYING ME. I’ve no idea how one hour can completely unravel a less than wonderful sleep pattern anyway, but somehow it has and I’m one tired hombre.

Look, I’ve never been a “sleep in” guy. Just give me a good six hours and I’m ready to go. The tossing, the turning…I just can’t do it anymore. I get up, I read, I hop on the computer…I dream of dreaming. And now I’m complaining. I want to “redeem the time”, just not at 2am.

We are trapped in our own seasons of life, however great or small. I can’t sleep, big deal. There are people across the ocean who lost their shelter to sleep in last week.

My shallow comfort should never blind my perspective.

The one thing we don’t get is a picture of the future. I find myself talking to friends and agonizing over what might and might not be, but the danger is that it can lead to doubt and futility. Hope is tangible when it’s placed on the only tangible person, not object, in existence, and that’s God. Somehow we are drawn to having affection for objects rather than God because we think we can see objects more clearly than the hand of God at work. But we prove that to be untrue. Because none of us are ever truly satisfied by objects and sadly enough, they don’t offer us glimpses of the future of anything. Ever.

I want to believe that more today.

Bitterness is the sleeping giant in the corner of our hearts. As much as I’ve been able to detect it in others, I’ve found it a bit harder to detect in myself (convenient, I know), so it’s no surprise that when I do those major “sweeps of the heart” to see what’s lurking beneath….it’s….uhh…there. A pastor/mentor of mine from the past always said that we MUST learn to be able to honestly evaluate ourselves. From talents and faults to strengths and weaknesses, he believed that it was crucial to have a clear and honest view of who we are and where we’re at. It’s hard work. We all think we’re a little more talented, a little better looking, a little less prideful, and a lot more discerning than we really are. It’s painful when we see blindspots in others that we care about, and horrifying when they show up in the mirror.

Search me, O God.

The whole thing’s been blown to smithereens…..this daily blogging routine, that is. Nevertheless, I’m back to writing at the beginning of a jam packed weekend, coming off a week of typical highs and lows.

Charlie Sheen - I’d like to back up what Mark Driscoll said which was essentially that this joke isn’t funny anymore and we should be prayerfully concerned instead of laughing any further. Hard not to be shocked.

Love Wins by Rob Bell - Good review from Tim Challies, who has actually read the book: http://www.challies.com/book-reviews/love-wins-a-review-of-rob-bells-new-book

Reason for God by Tim Keller - Starting this book, feels like a life changer: http://timothykeller.com/books/the_reason_for_god/

Why I Love the Church Conference with Ted Kluck - Happening at my church on Saturday March 12 @ 7pm. 1144 West Main Street, Ashland, OH. 44805. Tix by donation.

Moog - One of my other passions in life besides theology: www.moogmusic.com

God is good.

Between Rob Bell and Charlie Sheen, there’s a lot of people in my sphere talking about two people they don’t know, but are still captivated by the hype. It’s hard not to be.

Bell has a book coming out that he hopes will redefine the notion of what the Bible meant when it talked about hell. And Sheen is just….well….winning. The two have little in common (I think), except for both having a lot of people who are very curious about what either of them will say next. And in some ways, it doesn’t matter because it’s hard to change public opinion once it’s been established. None of them have a problem getting press right now, so in that regard they have a lot in common in their own industry corners.

Some comments from pro-Robbers: “You’re being judgemental!” “You haven’t even read the book!” ”We just need to love each other!”. “This is exactly why I hate Calvinists….because they’re haters!”.

Some comments from pro-Sheeners: Ok, I haven’t met any.

We’re aghast because truth is being tampered with and it frightens, shocks and amuses us.

It should never unravel us.

Teaching a message tomorrow night on brokenness at my church’s mid-week Bible study (called “The Fuse”). I’m indebted to Nancy DeMoss and her amazing book “Brokenness”, which inspired my title “The Beauty of Low Self Esteem”. It’s only when we have low self esteem that we can highly esteem Jesus.

Still learning how to do that every day.