Posts

Showing posts from June, 2023

Coping #ADD 03

Image
For years, I drove my wife crazy.   I’d go to get the pain reliever, and it wouldn’t be on the shelf in the bathroom cabinet where I put it.  Immediately, I’d shout to her, “Honey, where’s the pain reliever?”  She’d shout back (from the other side of the house), “It’s in the bathroom cabinet!”  I’d shout back, “No, it isn’t!”  “Yes, it is!”  “No, it isn’t!”   Frustrated, she’d stop whatever she was doing and come to the bathroom with me.  I’d be standing there with the cabinet open and she’d point right at the pain reliever bottle - on the top shelf of the bathroom cabinet.  “It’s right THERE.”  She’d shake her head and look at me kind of funny, and then go back to what she was doing.  I felt stupid.  It WAS right there in the cabinet, but it was two shelves up from where I’D put it.  When it wasn’t exactly where I expected it to be, I simply couldn’t see it.  After she pointed it out, I DID feel silly for not looking...

To Medicate Or Not? #ADD 02

Image
“Should I take medication to help mitigate my ADD symptoms?” For people with ADD , this can be a big question.   Let me begin by making it clear that I’m not a doctor or a psychiatrist and I have no credentials that qualify me to advise you medically concerning this question.  You should always listen to your doctor concerning recommendations and make your decisions with a qualified physician.   What I CAN provide here is my experience in answering this question for myself.   ADD is not a life-threatening disorder, and so, unlike heart disease, diabetes, or other ailments that MUST be medicated (if you want to live), the person with ADD typically has a choice as to whether or not to take medication.  There are numerous medications that can be taken, and you’re free to ask a doctor or look at WebMD to see what those options are.   Experiencing Adderall When I was first diagnosed with ADD, I was prescribed 30mg of Adderall, a stimulant that is used to addres...

The Distracted Contemplative #ADD 01

Image
I have ADD and I’m a contemplative.   “What?!” you might be thinking, especially if you also have ADD.   For those of you with ADD, I pray this series of posts are helpful.  For those of you without ADD, I’m confident you know someone who does have ADD, and this series may be helpful for you to understand their struggle, and possibly even give your some pointers for how to care more deeply for them.   I’ve taught classes on having a devotional time with God for years, and consistently, my ADD brothers and sisters (my “people”) say they CAN’T do it.  I’ve met so many ADD folks who despair to ever be able to spend serious time with God. They struggle with breath prayers, and can’t finish the examen.  And silence and solitude?  That’s just ridiculous.   I’ve seen the genuine struggles my people have with the spiritual practices.   Longing For God Many ADD people despair for their unfulfilled desire for intimacy with God.  Their perceived i...

I Am Always With You #spark 04

Image
I started my new job at the beginning of May 2023.   I feel so incredibly grateful to God and to the leaders who hired me.  I’m working for Jesus’ Church again, and it feels like when you crawl into bed at the end of a long day and cover up with your favorite blanket.  It’s warm, and comforting, and it smells like home.   It’s a big deal to have your church community of 20 years torn away from you in the matter of a couple weeks.  It’s a hard and unhappy thing to be shoved outside the city gates and have them slammed behind you.   I come to a new church community at a time in my life when I’d expected to be settling in for the home stretch.  I thought I’d be savoring the relationships my wife and I have cultivated over these 20 years. I'd imagined another 10 or 15 more years of deepening my ministry investment in the community, and looking to raise up my replacement.  I’d hoped I’d be reveling in the deep troves of experience I'd gathered with thi...

The Thing About Conflict #church 09

Image
Conflict is a thing in Jesus' Church.   In the final post of this series , I finished my take on the wisdom we can draw from Colossians 3:12  concerning dealing with conflict in Jesus’ Church.  I finished with these six ideas for dealing with a conflict in a godly way: See the other the way God sees them.  Let compassion move you toward the other. Extend dignity and respect through kindness.  In humility, look to the interests of the other. Gently ask to be heard. Let patience create space and room to “breathe.” There’s so much more that could be said about handling conflict in general, and there’s even more you could get out of Colossians 3 that’d be helpful.  But six is already too many for anybody to remember.  Fortunately, you don’t have to remember it, because I posted it here for you! How might our disagreements in our local church communities (or even the world) turn out differently if we were able to apply these principles in real time in the m...

Handling Conflict In A Godly Way Part 2 #church 08

Image
Conflict is a normal part of being human.   You’re going to have conflict in your local church community, so learning how to handle it in a godly way is important.   In the last post  in this series , we looked at handling conflict in three ways, all drawn from Colossians 3:12: Try to see the other like God does.  Let compassion move you toward the other person.  Extend dignity and respect through kindness. In this post, I’ll continue exploring how to handle conflict in a godly way in Jesus’ Church, as I parse the remainder of Colossians 3:12. Humility The next item from Colossians 3:12 is HUGE: Humility.   Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility … Colossians 3:12 Humility is a topic worthy of its own blog.  I won’t do a full treatment here, but the one thing I can say about humility is that it’s the one consistent trait that all followers of Jesus are called to demonstrate. ...